Matt Strahm

Position: LHRP
Level: MLB
Affiliate: San Diego Padres
League: MLB
Born: 11/12/1991 (Age: 32)
Height: 6'3''
Weight: 185
B/T: Right / Right
Acquired: 21st Rd., 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft (KCR)

Prospect Spotlight

The Padres had success transitioning Brad Hand (LHP, Padres) —another former lefty starter—to a bullpen role, and he has gone on to be one of baseball’s primer late-inning arms. Strahm elicits some Hand comparisons himself as a mid-90’s southpaw with a hard, sharp curveball. While he is still transitioning fully to a bullpen role, Strahm’s profile carries most impact pitching in late-inning situations. He has the ingredients to profile as a setup option at the big league level.

He pitches from a semi-windup with some deception to the delivery, closing off his front side and slinging from a 3/4’s slot. It creates an especially tough angle to left-handed bats, though hitters on both sides don’t get a particularly good look at the ball. There is more effort to his mechanics when Strahm pitches from the bullpen, though his lively fastball reaches 95-to-96 mph pitching in short stints. His command wavers when he pitches too far across his body and/or drops underneath the ball, but when he was timed up and finished his delivery correctly, he threw with some angle and hit quality low spots to both sides of the plate. Strahm has a nasty sweeping curveball in the 78-to-80 mph range, and he’ll show it to both righties and lefties. Occasionally he mixes what looks like a hard slider, with shorter tilt than the curveball and more power in the 86-to-88 range.