Quinn Mathews Called Up!
by Shane O'Leary - Roster News Bureau Chief
Nothing quite like the excitement surrounding a high prospect getting the call to the bigs. And with that, Quinn Mathews --yes, he only has one "t" in his last name for some reason-- is packing his bags for Carp country. He'll debut on Saturday and let me tell you, the Carp need the arm.
It's no secret the manner in which the Carp have built their pitching staff for their inaugural season: Many high leverage bullpen arms and as many quality flex arms (SP/RP) as they can reasonably roster, all set alongside a shallow, but quality batch of SP arms --the best an expansion team can expect to muster anyway. The days of Trevor MacDonald (sorry about the TJS, Trev), Steven Matz, and Eric Lauer making multiple weekly starts for the Carp feels like the random person on your Facebook friends list you met at the local farmers' market 8 1/2 years ago, on a day when you had decided that you should "put yourself out there more," and were excited at the prospect of having as many friends as possible. You're pretty sure they have three kids, and they definitely "liked" your comment about the best place to find good cantaloupe a few years back.They also definitely have a 5.59 ERA and you're probably better off without them.
But one of the reasons the Carp have been able to move through the season with so few SP and their fans not lose their minds is because the Fish have a school of arms seasoning down in the minors. We've already seen Elmer Rodriguez get the call a few times, and now it's Mathews' turn. God, that missing "t" is obnoxious.
So, what are the Carp getting here? Well, they're getting a guy who gave the Rays a middle finger when they drafted him in the 923rd round of the 2022 draft and didn't sign, was pretty ferocious in 2023 (3.75 ERA; 158 K in 124.1 IP), was even better in 2024 (2.76 ERA; 202 K in 143.1 IP), was worse in 2025 because his shoulder hurt, and then promptly kicked more ass here in 2026, albeit with a bit higher BB/9 than you'd care to admit (5.09). And in typical Carp fashion, he's still striking guys out (111 in 92.1 innings).
One area to keep an eye on is his silly .214 BABIP. There's no way that doesn't regress something fierce, especially against higher level competition. But that's cynicism for another day --welcome to the show, kid!