In the summer of 2019, Atlanta Braves bench coach Walt Weiss was studying the organization’s minor-league scouting reports when he came across a familiar name.
“I was reading one of our box scores from our Double-A team in Jackson (Miss.), and it said, ‘Matzek,’ ” Weiss recalled. “I thought, ‘Well, that can’t be him.’ I hadn’t heard from Tyler in four or five years. I just assumed he wasn’t in the game anymore. But sure enough, it was him. Man, what an incredible journey.”
Monday night, Tyler Matzek, the Rockies’ first-round draft choice in 2009 whose performance anxiety and case of the yips nearly ruined his baseball career, was in the Braves’ bullpen as they faced the Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series at Globe Life Field.