Name Michael Matuella | Role Baseball Player | |
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Similar People Kyle Funkhouser, Nathan Kirby, Brady Aiken, Phil Bickford, Dansby Swanson | ||
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Michael Benjamin Matuella (born June 3, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Texas Rangers organization. He played college baseball at Duke. He was drafted by the Rangers in the third round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft.
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Career
Matuella attended Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland. He was lightly recruited out of high school and only received offers to play college baseball at Duke University and the University of Maryland. He chose Duke. As a freshman in 2013, he appeared in 22 games with seven starts. He went 4–4 over 57 2⁄3 innings with a 4.53 earned run average (ERA) and struck out 28. As a sophomore in 2014, Matuella started 11 games, going 1–3 but with a 2.78 ERA and 69 strikeouts over 58 1⁄3 innings. After the season, he was diagnosed with spondylolysis, which caused him to not pitch during the summer or fall.
Entering his junior season, Matuella was considered one of the top prospects for the 2015 Major League Baseball draft. Prior to the season he was named a preseason All-American by Baseball America. In April it was announced that he would need Tommy John surgery, which ended his junior season.
The Texas Rangers selected Matuella in the third round of the 2015 draft. Matuella did not play in 2015 due to Tommy John surgery, and his 2016 season was cut short after one game with a sprained ligament in his right elbow.