Due to an injury, we did not get to see Atlanta Braves reliever Tyler Matzek at all during 2023, but we all still remember the legendary pitching he did during the 2021 NLCS and the 2021 World Series that helped the Braves win the pennant. Tyler was recently seen wearing a brand new necklace at Spring Training so CJ Nitkowski asked him what the idea was behind it.
"You talkin bout this thing? Yeah, so the nickname came when Luke Jackson put a tweet out and he nudged me and said "Hey, you think we'll get in trouble for this?" and I was like I don't know, try it. So he tweeted out and said three minutes later the Braves retweeted it so we were in the clear. Then it kinda just stuck after that. It was something that was kind of against the grain and it stuck. A jeweler reached out to me and said "Hey, if you wanna do anything custom we'd love to do something like this." and I said yeah let's do this. Happy Jewelers in Fullerton, California did a great job with it. I think it looks good and I feel good with it." - Matzek
If you are wondering what the aforementioned tweet from Jackson was, don't worry: I've got you covered!
That one tweet sparked thousands of memes and the nickname has stuck with Matzek ever since. Jackson was referring to Matzek's performance against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of the 2021 NLDS. Matzek pitched 1.1 innings in that game and struck out three of the six hitters he faced to help the Braves secure a 3-0 victory. He came into the game in the bottom of the seventh with two outs as he replaced Jackson on the mound.
The rest was history. The lore behind Tyler Matzek was born and he became an icon for Braves Country. It will be great to see him back on the mound this spring.
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