Zebby Matthews is from the kind of place people sing about.
Matthews grew up in Cullowee, N.C., and attended Smoky Mountain High School in nearby Sylva. His classmates drove half an hour or more through the lush mountain range on their way to school, then watched the sun disappear into the crimson sky behind it every night.
At 2,000 feet above sea level, Daniel Zebulon Matthews didn’t have to stand on his toes to reach up and touch the heavens. He just had to wave his hand above his head.
“Your mountains are a canvas,” Eric Church sings in 2009’s Carolina, “for the Maker’s hand.”
“I want to go back to my home in the mountains,” Don Reno sang in 1971. “Where shade trees grow all around/Where grass grows so green and flowers are still blooming.”
“When I was young and in my prime/I left my home in Caroline,” Bill Clifton crooned in 1957. “Now all I do is sit and pine/For all the folks I left behind.”
Matthews, 25, is about to enter his prime, but he can’t go home yet.
He has unfinished business with the Minnesota Twins.
The Twins took him out of his local college, Western Carolina University, in the 8th round of the 2022 draft. He rapidly ascended through Minnesota’s minor league system, leaping from High-A at the beginning of last season to making his major league debut in August.
Matthews finished last season with a 6.69 ERA in nine starts, showcasing his trademark control while experiencing growing pains. He arrived at spring training this year with a 97 mph fastball and the determination to stick in the majors.
“I don’t think I ever thought I would have done it,” Matthews said, referring to his increase in velocity. “Everyone sets goals for themselves at the beginning of the year. Everybody’s goal is to debut. But when you start in High A, it’s probably not very likely. But it happened. It was awesome. You definitely want to make a career out of it and stay there.”
Matthews’ 2025 season got off to an inauspicious start. During his first start this year, he gave up four earned runs to the Milwaukee Brewers in three innings. However, Matthews recovered. On May 30, he went seven innings in Seattle in his third start, and only gave up one run in five innings against the A’s in West Sacramento.
He was trending in the right direction before a shoulder injury sidelined him after his start against the A’s. Matthews returned for a September 19 start in Denver. However, he gave up eight hits and five earned runs in four innings in a 10-6 loss to the league-worst Colorado Rockies.
But he returned home from the Mile High City, only to reach the mountaintop.
Matthews only gave up two hits and no runs in his second start back from injury, stymying the Washington Nationals in a 1-0 win.
It was a trademark Matthews start. He had seven strikeouts and no walks in six innings. He showed masterful control of his four-seamer, slider, cutter, changeup, and curveball.
“It’s a big confidence boost,” he said after the start. “I had some really good outings in Triple-A to start the year, had a really good spring, then got up here and was very inconsistent. I had some really good innings and then some innings that would really fall apart.
“To be able to put together a full start where I felt like I was more or less doing what I wanted to do out there for a full six innings was something that felt good to do, and it’s something I obviously need to continue to do.”
Baldelli said the Twins expected Matthews to pitch the way he did in the best outing of his career. He was trending toward making starts like the one he had on Friday before he got hurt, given how he had pitched in spring training and before he injured his shoulder.
Most of his adjustments were mental. Matthews is learning how to get good hitters out, knowing he can’t blow away the competition like he did in the minors, even with a 97 mph fastball.
“It all came together yesterday for him,” said Baldelli. “You’re seeing what he’s capable of. But these are things that we fully expect from him, and it was great to see. I was excited to watch him pitch, and I enjoyed it immensely. But now we build on that, and you aim for that sort of consistency. Because you can’t really pitch much better than he pitched yesterday.”
Matthews has been to the mountaintop, and he’ll want to return there in his next outing. Still, that’s nothing new for the hard-throwing righty from Cullowee. People from the mountains always wish to return.
He was born high enough above sea level that Matthews scraped the heavens with the baseball’s stitching at the top of his delivery. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that he throws his fastball so hard that it sings.
