Phil Maton missed the entire 2022 postseason and the World Series title after he suffered a broken bone in his right hand.
The injury occurred after the final regular season game when he punched a locker.
It had to be frustrating for the successful relief pitcher to watch from afar.
Following surgery in October, Maton began his rehab. The regimen has turned into a sensational start in the regular season for the Houston Astros.
Maton has tossed 8 1/3 scoreless innings, the longest current streak in the American League. Maton has given up only two hits with picture perfect command.
“I’m trying to get a lot of feel back more than anything,” Maton told the Houston Chronicle “I'm cutting the ball a little bit more. I don't know if that's the byproduct of the hand surgery or not. But to me, it's still really early in the season. There's still a lot of things I can work on. So I'm not 100 percent sure if it's really affecting anything or it's just still early for me.”
It’s obvious that Maton believes he has a lot to prove following the incident with the locker.
So far, so good.
Make that great.
“Right now it's just been executing pitches, for the most part,” Maton told the Houston Chronicle. “I say that, and I kind of left a few pitches up in the last game that luckily they didn't swing at. But I feel like there's just been a little bit more focus to pound the zone, get ahead, not walk guys, put myself in favorable counts. And Maldy (catcher Martín Maldonado) has been doing a great job of cycling between off-speed for lefties and righties so we’re not giving the same look every time. So I think it's been a couple of things, but right now it's just really trying to execute pitches at a high rate while trying to get those last little upticks in my velocity back.”
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