Success carried to the States for David Matoma in 2024
Righty build off strong DSL debut with All-Star performance in the FCL
It’s hard to take some numbers put up in the Dominican Summer League seriously, as the level of talent can vary and the sample sizes are generally small.
Regardless, seeing 17-year-old David Matoma, a right-handed pitcher out of Uganda, post 16.2 shutout innings in his debut during the 2023 season was impressive.
The most impressive part was the report that came out he hit triple-digits with his fastball.
After finding out he would make the jump to the States, he became one of the more intriguing prospects in the Pirates’ system for the 2024 season.
He didn’t disappoint, as he followed up his impressive debut with another strong showing, this time in the Florida Complex League. In 15 games, Matoma allowed just two earned runs, posting a 0.82 ERA with 28 strikeouts and nine walks across 22 innings pitched.
In two years in rookie ball, going back to the DSL, Matoma has allowed just two earned runs across 38.8 innings (0.47 ERA). Even with being 18, he held FCL hitters to a .183 average.
It’s a great start to the career of a player the Pirates were able to sign for $20,000, with the only holdback so far being that most of his outings have been single-inning appearances, and he did miss some time due to an injury at the end of the season.
He did have eight straight games where he recorded at least four outs but then missed a month of the FCL season before returning to make another four appearances—all an inning or less.
So, that begs the question, what kind of pitcher is Matoma?
If he’s just a reliever, that would hurt his overall value as a prospect. The Pirates could be building him up, as he wouldn’t have the build-up some prep players would have at this point.
Speaking of prep players, to give an idea of how young Matoma is, he is just a few months older than Levi Sterling—the Pirates Competitive Balance pick in 2024 who was one of the younger players in the draft.
There is time for him to stretch out as a starter, he already has two years of pro ball under his belt. He has a smaller frame, which will always lead to durability questions, but the Pirates have already seen some success at the major league level with a player with a smaller frame for a starting pitcher—Jared Jones.
As he finds more consistency, there is a chance that Matoma has one of the better fastballs in the system. While there were no confirmed readings of his fastball reaching triple-digits, he did hit the upper 90s consistently, and it has shown good life on it.
How he rounds out his pitch mix will go a long way in determining what kind of prospect he is, but in the meantime, the success he’s had this early in his career is getting a lot of notice.
His performance in 2024 was good enough to be named a FCL All-Star as a reliever.
The Pirates have several highly rated pitching prospects in the system, and Matoma has the potential to fully show just how good their pitching lab has become.
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