Matt Strahm: Starter or Reliever?

Prior to the 2017 trade deadline, the San Diego Padres sent Trevor Cahill, Brandon Maurer, and Ryan Buchter to the Kansas City Royals in return for Travis Wood, Esteury Ruiz, and Matt Strahm.

At the time, many experts believed that Esteury Ruiz was the centerpiece of this six-player trade.

However, left-handed pitcher Matt Strahm is slowly starting to look like the prize of this trade. Ruiz is still very young so only time will tell. At the time of this trade, Strahm was recovering from a knee injury that he suffered at the beginning of 2017 and has also had Tommy John surgery before. Prior to this trade, Strahm was once a top 100 prospect, and some considered him to be the best overall prospect throughout the Royals’ farm system.

While Strahm has electric stuff, his control has been a little shaky. His fastball, at its peak, can hit 95-96, but often sits somewhere in the range of 91-93 mph. He possesses a slider and curveball that, paired with his fastball, give Strahm an effective three-pitch mix. Strahm also has a changeup, but it is a below average pitch that needs a lot of work to be considered “big league ready”. His control has been shaky in the past, but in camp, Strahm has commanded his pitches well and looks a lot more fluid then he has in the past. He does have some deception to his delivery and Strahm is primarily good against left-handed batters.

With a fifth spot available in the Padres’ pitching rotation, and some bullpen spots still up for grabs, the question that has been floating around camp is this: Will Matt Strahm break camp with the team as a starter or a reliever?

For starters, it is unlikely that the Padres start Strahm in Triple-A El Paso unless he is still showing struggles related to his injury. There is no benefit in sending Strahm down to a hitter-friendly league for him to potentially have struggles and lose confidence. At 26 years old, it’s time for Strahm to finally break camp with a big league club.

As for what role he will have in the pitching staff, it should be very well documented that Strahm has the potential to be successful as both a starting pitcher and a reliever. His uptick in velocity at the beginning of any outing makes Strahm an interesting relief option, but his three-pitch mix gives him a strong enough arsenal to excel as a starter.

Ultimately, Matt Strahm’s role on this staff will come down to how healthy his knee is, as well as how other pitchers perform in camp. Last week, Andy Green indicated to James Clark of EVT and other scribes that Strahm is still roughly 80 percent in terms of his health. He is getting better, but the knee is a major factor in what the club does with him.

Based on what he’s shown thus far, the Padres will more than likely start Strahm in a bullpen role. Will he stay there all season? Probably not. The team doesn’t want to rush Strahm, and by starting him in the bullpen he is able to get his feet wet with Major League-level hitters. However, I do envision seeing Matt Strahm in the starting rotation at some point this season as he does have the stuff to be a quality starter at the big league level.

Matt Strahm is a great young pitching prospect for the San Diego Padres. A few years down the road, Strahm might be a staple on a pitching staff that is competing for a playoff spot year in and year out.

Diego Solares

Diego works at Prep Baseball Report as an Area Scout in Illinois and Missouri. He graduated this spring with a Bachelor Degree in Communications and played four years of college baseball, logging nearly 50 innings of work in a relief role. Diego hopes to work in an MLB front office one day and has been a Padres fan since he was six years old.