Phil Maton

Phillip Louis Maton

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 220 lb.
• School Louisiana Tech University
• High School Glenwood High School (Chatham)
• Debut June 11, 2017

• Born March 25, 1993 in Paducah, KY USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Phil Maton is the brother of infielder Nick Maton. He reached the majors with the San Diego Padres during the 2017 season and settled into a middle reliever role, appearaing in 46 games that season and 45 in 2018, with ERAs of 4.19 and 4.37 respectively. He started 2019 poorly, with an ERA of 7.77 in 21 games and on July 12th was traded to the Cleveland Indians in return for international bonus slot money, a sign that he was considered a pretty generic pitcher at that point. He pitched a lot better the rest of the season with the Indians, putting up an ERA of 2.92 in 9 games.

During the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he appeared in 23 games, but his performance was almost the same as his first two seasons with the Padres: very few decisions, a 4.57 ERA, and a better-than-average strikeout rate. He appeared in the postseason for the first time that year, pitching a total of 3 1/3 innings in the two games as the Indians were swept by the New York Yankees in the Wild Card Series. He was putting up his usual numbers in 2021 - 2-0, 4.57 in 38 games, when he was traded to the Houston Astros on July 30th in one of the less-publicized trading deadline deals that year. The most remarkable thing was that the Astros had given up their starting CF, rookie Myles Straw, to acquire a depth reliever for their postseason run (the Indians also gave up a low-level prospect in Yainer Diaz). He went 4-0, 4.97 in 27 games for Houston to finish a combined 6-0, 4.73 in a career-high 65 games. In 66 2/3 innings, he struck out 85 batters, showing some pretty good stuff in spite of an ERA higher than one would like. In the postseason, he saw heavy usage, with 12 games pitched over three rounds, including five of the six games of the World Series against the Atlanta Braves. He had no decisions but pitched very well, allowing just 1 run in 12 1/3 innings.

His strong performance in the previous year's postseason seemed to have boosted him in 2022, as he managed to lower his ERA by over a full run over the first 10 weeks of the season. On June 15th, he was part of a unique feat in major league annals when he became the 9th pitcher in Astros history to pitch an immaculate inning, doing this in the 7th inning of a 9-2 win over the Texas Rangers when he struck out the side, consisting of Nathaniel Lowe, Ezequiel Duran and Brad Miller, on nine pitches. What was even more remarkable was that the 8th instance of the feat had been accomplished in the same game, in the 2nd inning, by Luis García - and it had involved the same three batters! It was the first time in the major leagues that there had been two such innings thrown in the same game.

Notable Achievements

• Won one World Series with the Houston Astros in 2022 (he did not play in the World Series)

Further Reading

• Brian McTaggart: "2 immaculate innings thrown in 1 game for first time", mlb.com, June 15, 2022. [1]

Related Sites

• Phil Maton on mlb.com