Matt Buschmann

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Matthew David Buschmann

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Biographical Information[edit]

Matt Buschmann began his professional career in 2006. Despite spending parts of seven seasons at Triple A, making three league All-Star teams and posting sub-3.00 ERAs three times, the hurler did not make his major league debut until April 2016 at age 32.

Buschmann was 5-1 with a 1.68 ERA as a high school senior; he also hit .412 and was captain of the basketball team. He was a high school teammate of David Freese. He was 5-2 with 5 saves and a 3.86 ERA as a freshman at Vanderbilt, then 8-1 with 2 saves and a 2.84 ERA as a sophomore, third on the team in wins behind Jeremy Sowers and Ryan Mullins. In '05, he fell to 4-3, 3.47 with a save, Jensen Lewis, Mullins and David Price forming the main rotation for the staff. As a senior, the righty was 6-4 with a 3.95 ERA, outperforming Price (who was his roommate during college).

Matt was drafted in the 15th round of the 2006 amateur draft by the San Diego Padres, one round after Grant Green, and signed by scout Ash Lawson. He split the summer between the Eugene Emeralds (3-4, 3.12, 11 walks in 60 2/3 innings) and Lake Elsinore Storm (1-0, 5 runs in 12 2/3 innings). He was 9th in the Northwest League in ERA and 8th in strikeouts (63). He had his first season of note in 2007, going 12-6 with a 2.89 ERA in 28 games (25 starts) for the Lake Elsinore Storm. He was second in the California League in ERA, behind Brandon Hynick, tied Vin Mazzaro for 10th in strikeouts (115) and tied Marlon Arias and Matt Torra for third in wins. Among Padres farmhands, he was 4th in whiffs (between Jack Cassel and Josh Geer), led in ERA and tied Manny Ayala for 5th in wins. He joined Ayala and Hynick on the the league All-Star team. Despite his success, he was only tabbed San Diego's #21 prospect by Baseball America and would not make it any higher. The following year, he was 10-6 with a 2.98 ERA in 27 starts for the San Antonio Missions. He was again second in the Texas League in ERA, a distant 1.08 behind Mazzaro, as well as third in strikeouts (118, behind Will Inman and James Simmons) and tied for third in wins (even with Dan Cortes, Hynick and Blake Johnson, behind Mazzaro and Mike Ekstrom). He again led San Diego minor leaguers in wins; he also tied for 7th in strikeouts (between Ernesto Frieri and Chad Reineke). He, Simmons, Mazzaro, Jess Todd, Cortes, Inman and Fernando Salas were tabbed the TL's All-Star pitchers. He encountered adversity for the first time as a pro in 2009, split with San Antonio (2-1, 4.39) and the Portland Beavers (3-10, 6.18). He tied Stephen Faris for second in the Padres chain in losses, two behind Corey Kluber. Moving to relief primarily, he was slightly better in 2010 for San Antonio (2-2, 3.46 in 32 games) and Portland (0-4, 9.38 in 8 games). In 2011, he was with the same two clubs, going 6-1 with a 3.94 ERA in AA and 6-5 with a 7.31 ERA in AAA. He tied Keyvius Sampson for most wins of a San Diego farmhand, but was third with 171 hits allowed and 4th with 97 runs allowed (between Jeremy Hefner and Inman).

After multiple tough trials at Triple A from 2009 to 2011, he was left unprotected and taken by the Washington Nationals in the AA portion of the 2011 Rule V Draft, only to be traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for cash. He rebounded a bit in 2012 (7-8, 3.89 for the Montgomery Biscuits and allowing 6 runs in 10 1/3 innings for the Durham Bulls). He was third in the Rays farm system in strikeouts (120, behind Chris Archer and Kyle Lobstein). He had another excellent season in 2013 (his first in 5 years), going 14-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 29 games (28 starts) split between the Biscuits (6-3, 2.69) and Bulls (8-2, 2.97). He fanned 167 in 160 2/3 innings. Among Rays minor leaguers, he was second to J.D. Martin in wins, led in strikeouts (43 ahead of Jake Odorizzi) and was second to Martin in ERA. In the entire minor leagues, he tied for 6th in wins and was third in strikeouts (behind Daniel Winkler and Henry Owens). He joined the Oakland Athletics system for 2014, going 10-7 with a 4.40 ERA in 25 games (24 starts) for the Triple A Sacramento River Cats; he had 134 strikeouts in 143 1/3 innings. He re-signed with the A's for 2015, but was traded back to Tampa Bay for cash considerations before the campaign began. After going 6-5 with a 3.89 ERA for Durham, he was released in June and signed by the Cincinnati Reds. He made 9 starts for the Triple A Louisville Bats and went 2-5 with a 4.25 ERA. On August 11th, he was traded again, to the Baltimore Orioles, for cash considerations and made one start for their Triple A club, the Norfolk Tides. All told, he was 8-10 with a 4.08 ERA in 23 starts.

After becoming a free agent following the 2015 season, he signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks for 2016. On April 7th, he was promoted to the major leagues for the first time after pitcher Kyle Drabek was designated for assignment. Matt made his major league debut on April 10th, pitching a scoreless inning in relief against the Chicago Cubs. Relieving Jake Barrett with a 7-3 deficit in the top of the 9th, he retired Matt Szczur, gave up a single to Munenori Kawasaki, intentionally walked Miguel Montero after a steal then got Addison Russell to hit into a double play. In 3 total appearances, he pitched 4 1/3rd innings to a 2.08 ERA and 0.69 WHIP with 3 strikeouts.

Matt retired following the '16 season. He was hired in December 2017 as the San Francisco Giants assistant director of player development. In 2019, he was appointed bullpen coach of the Toronto Blue Jays under first-year manager Charlie Montoyo. He stayed until the end of the 2022 season then resigned unexpectedly in January of 2023.

Matt is married to ESPN/FOX Sports reporter Sara Walsh.

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