Brian Matusz Demoted To Triple-A

Drafting young pitchers is like buying a car. There are just so many variables to think about. And the second you drive them off the lot, the value goes down. Eventually they all break down, usually at the worst possible time, like when you have a job interview. Then you lend them to your friend Dusty, and he wraps them around a tree. Every time. Like clockwork. You should probably just buy that guy a Vespa and change your phone number.

Wait, no. Young pitchers are like avocados. Their insides are all squishy, and they start to spoil right after you cut them open.

Wait, no. Young pitchers are like athletes who have to repeat a violent action over and over again, which puts stress on various body parts. Some pitchers can handle this better than others, who can't handle the physical requirements at all. And for the Baltimore Orioles, this is especially concerning, as their future is completely tethered to their young pitching. They have homegrown youngsters (Zach Britton, Jake Arrieta), and the key piece of a big trade (Chris Tillman) in their rotation right now.

But their crown jewel is Brian Matusz, the fourth overall pick of the 2008 draft. He was supposed to arrive quickly, and he did. He was supposed to be effective right away, and he was. He was supposed to have a high ceiling and continue to improve...

from FanGraphs.com

Instead, his velocity has been rapidly declining, and he's been getting hit hard. He came into the league with a fastball that averaged 91.5 mph in 2009, but in his start against the Cardinals on Thursday, he was sitting at 87 mph. He gave up eight earned runs in 3-1/3 innings, raising his ERA to 8.77. It was his fourth straight poor start, and after the game he was sent to triple-A Norfolk.

To be fair, Matusz did have an oblique injury earlier in the year, and that's a finicky muscle. That injury might be partially (or wholly) responsible for the drop in velocity, though there doesn't really need to be a reason -- pitchers often lose a little velocity in their first couple of seasons in the majors.

And every so often, there's a pitcher who struggles to maintain his velocity before finding it in the pocket of an old coat that he never wears anymore.

Oh! That fastball. There it is. Whew. That's the velocity chart of Madison Bumgarner, who everyone figured was injured until he wasn't. There are mechanical tweaks that can affect velocity just as much as physical problems, and if there's someone that Orioles fans can look at to give them a little optimism, Bumgarner isn't a bad place to start. His improved fastball came without a cycle of injury and rehabilitation.

And if the velocity doesn't come back for Matusz? A lefty with plus-command and good breaking stuff can thrive with a fastball that hovers around 89 or 90 mph. Sometimes, they don't even need that much. Matusz will get to figure out what's wrong in an environment without as much pressure, which is almost certainly a good idea.

Orioles fans will hold their breath. But the only thing they really know right now is that Matusz is a young pitcher. Those things are weird and confusing. They're like a Spike Lee movie ... wait, no, they're like a garage-door opener on the fritz ... wait, no, they're like really valuable and often fragile parts of a young, rebuilding team. And there aren't a lot of pieces who are more valuable to their teams than Matusz is to his.