Top 15 Mariners for 2023: #13 Matt Brash, A Pitcher whose name matches his arsenal

We continue on with our top 15 players on the Mariners heading into 2023, with many a fans favorite relief pitcher on the team. Matt Brash's last name has a meaning in English: rude, cocky, bold. While his last name may not describe his personality, it does capture the nastiness of his pitches.

March is a big month for Matt Brash! He will be playing for the Mariners in the Spring Training Cactus League, and he will be representing Canada in the World Baseball Classic. These two opportunities occur before the regular season even starts. He will again be part of the elite group called the Bomberos, the firemen, who come in after the starting pitchers and make additional innings sizzle.

Matt Brash comes in at #13 in our Mariners Rankings for 2023

Matt Brash was born in Kingston, Canada. In the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft, the San Diego Padres drafted him in the fourth round after he studied and played baseball at Niagara University. In 2020, the Padres traded him to Seattle in exchange for the Mariners’ pitcher, Taylor Williams.

Brash began in the starting rotation in 2022, spent some time in AAA Tacoma, and returned to the bullpen where he excelled. He threw a slider 38 percent of the time, allowing batters only a .175 batting average; a 4-seam fastball 36 percent of the time with a batting averaging .379; and a curveball 25 percent of the time that batters only hit .208. He had the fourth nastiest pitch from 2022 in David Adler’s “The 22 nastiest pitches of 22”.  Adler selected a Brash curveball that had an rpm of 3109 and broke almost two feet – all at 87 miles per hour.

Brash spent some time this offseason working at Driveline to develop a cutter. He liked learning from experts in analytics. Brash said that an advantage of being a relief pitcher is that it enables him to pitch every game. Scott Servais (paywall) thinks that now, in Spring Training, he already looks like he would expect him to look midway through the season. He also realizes how much impact he can make.

Brash is looking forward to playing for Team Canada since he has not had that opportunity in the past. He is proud of his country and has always wanted to represent Canada as a baseball player.

Matt Brash will likely be one of the hottest Bomberos again this coming season. He is a hard worker, has vast talent, and he will only improve with time! The Mariners are lucky to have him and his remarkable spinning pitches.