With first-hand access at CHS Field this season, Theo Tollefson will be providing updates and insight on player performances on the St. Paul Saints and their opponents throughout the International League for each of the Saints’ homestands this year.
Breaking Down Live Looks From St. Paul
St. Paul – Tuesday night featured one of the better pitching matchups in the minors so far this season. The Twins’ top pitching prospect, Zebby Matthews, for the St. Paul Saints, faced off against the Royals’ number six prospect, Noah Cameron, who took the bump for the Omaha Storm Chasers.
Both are the stand-out arms at the Triple-A level in their respective teams’ farm systems, and they pitched as well as they were billed to for an early April season baseball game. Though they’ve both only made two starts on the season, Cameron sits at an 0.82 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 11 strikeouts, and four walks through 11 innings. Matthews has a 1.80 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 13 strikeouts, and just one walk through 10 innings.
Zebby Matthews vs. Noah Cameron
Through the first four innings of their matchup Tuesday, Matthews and Cameron were keeping up with each other, striking hitters out, both only allowing one walk, and not allowing any runners. A year ago, the walks were a complete rarity for Matthews, who only walked seven batters in 97 innings between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A. He knew it would be a challenge to repeat the same 1.9% walk rate this season.
“As much as I don’t want to, it’s part of the game,” Matthews said after his start. “Nobody is going to go through the whole season without walking anybody, it’s unrealistic. It’s going to happen and you have to be able to work around it.”
Cameron did not have as few walks as Matthews did last season, allowing 36 in 128.2 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. But he still had a respectable 6.7% walk rate for the 2024 season and is working to lower those numbers this year.
“Everything has been going well so far,” said Cameron. “Just kind of continuing where I left off, mixing pitches, trying to keep hitters off balance, trying to use the changeup, curveball, and kind of put away pitches against hitters. Work on my slider against lefties, trying to keep that in the mix, but yeah, just trying to keep hitters off balance and just attacking and being aggressive.”
The biggest difference between the two over those first four innings was the velocity on their fastballs. Cameron was sitting at 94.3 MPH while Matthews had fireballs out of his hand, averaging out at 97.1 MPH. The heat off his fastball looked like Matthews would stay ahead, but both teams were just waiting for the other to be the first to make a mistake.
And it would be the Saints who caved to the Storm Chasers’ offense first. In the top of the fifth with two outs and an 0-2 count on Omaha shortstop Cam Devanney hit what looked to be a routine flyout to right field, but it was botched by Saints’ right fielder Yunior Severino to get the Storm Chasers on the board and extend their inning. Despite the dropped ball by Severino, what came after to give the Storm Chasers a 2-0 lead was more a matter of where Matthews located his pitches than the defense behind him.
“I was up 0-2 and had a chance to put it away, but I didn’t. So a lot of it was on me there not executing a two-strike pitch, but the top of their lineup, third time through the lineup, I’m giving up that single through the four hole. But then yeah, worked around it, would have liked to have gotten around it with just the one, but ultimately we minimized there, got in the dugout, and got the offense back out there,” said Matthews.
Despite the loss, Matthews would still tie a career-high in strikeouts at nine on Tuesday night. Cameron would continue to throw two scoreless innings after Matthews’ night ended after getting out of the jam in the fifth. Cameron would total just five strikeouts and only allow three base runners through six scoreless innings. Even with the win, he still tipped his cap to his mound counterpart for a fun night of competition.
“Zebby’s awesome. He’s a really good ballplayer, super fun to watch, obviously extremely talented. It was just like, ‘Hey, we know the score is probably going to be relatively low, let’s just try to attack him a little bit, but then on my part it was just giving us a chance to win. I went at hitters, didn’t try to nibble too much, just keep the walks down and let the defense do its work,” said Cameron.
What is Next for These Exciting Dynasty Arms
Even though they are starting their seasons at Triple-A, both Matthews and Cameron are the next man to be called up for their MLB team’s starting rotations when the time comes. Matthews has already served in that role, making his MLB debut on August 13, last year against Cameron’s favorite team growing up, the Kansas City Royals.
Cameron hasn’t had the opportunity to make his MLB debut yet, but he’s not worrying when it will happen this season; if he keeps pitching as he has been, it will come around.
“I think it’s just keeping my head down, just being where my feet are. We know if I keep throwing well, the opportunity will present itself, but it’s also out of my control. I can control how I throw and just the pitches that I am making, and hopefully the hitters don’t hit them, but if they do and I have some adversity, I just need to turn things around as quickly as I can and get on the path,” Cameron said.
This is where things come into favor for dynasty fantasy baseball players. They can take stock of these top-of-the-rotation Triple-A starters who will be with their MLB clubs at some point in 2025. With how things line up currently, Matthews will likely be with the Twins before Cameron is with the Royals, as Matthews is expected to make the start in the injured Pablo López’s spot on Monday against the New York Mets.
But come mid to late summer, these two prospects could graduate from their prospect status and be facing off against each other at Target Field or Kaufmann Stadium to help their teams push for control of the American League Central Division title.
