JUPITER, Fla. — One day after Steven Matz’s TV debut as a Cardinals starter sent some folks back in St. Louis scrambling to smash panic buttons and sound any and all alarms, the newest member of the rotation could be found all alone, going through his pitching delivery on one of the practice pitching mounds tucked just behind the Cardinals clubhouse out back of Roger Dean Stadium.
Matz wasn’t waiting on a catcher to show up for a throwing session. He wasn’t firing fastballs into the backstop. He just kept slowly winding up as if he was going to pitch, only to pause right before he would normally release the ball.