Reports indicate that four-time Baseball Canada National Team member and Philadelphia Phillies prospect Scott Mathieson (Aldergrove, B.C.), will make his first major league start, Saturday, against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
“It was one of the best days of my life so far,” Mathieson told mlb.com reporter Ken Mandel. “It’s something you wait your whole life for. I thought about it. I’ve dreamt about it. It’s really happening.”
The 6’3”, 190-pound 22-year old right-handed pitcher will be the third Canadian to make his major league debut this year and like fellow British Columbia native Adam Loewen, now with the Baltimore Orioles, Mathieson will skip Triple A baseball on his way to the big leagues.
In Double A Reading, this season, Mathieson led the Eastern League with 95 strikeouts in 85.2 innings of work, while giving up 67 hits and posting a 3.05 ERA on route to a 6-2 record. He struck out 11 batters on two separate occasions and has displayed tremendous control for a power-pitcher, tossing only one wild pitch in 13 starts and posting a miniscule WHIP* of 1.07.
A 17th round Phillies draft pick in 2002, Mathieson also played for Canada’s 2002 National Junior Team, before joining the National Senior Team in 2005 for the Baseball World Cup and the CONCEBE Baseball Regional Olympic Qualifier.
More recently, Mathieson contributed in Canada’s upset of the United States, throwing a hitless eighth inning at the World Baseball Classic’s U.S. Eh! game, and setting Steve Green up for the save and an 8-6 victory.
Mathieson is set to become the 20th Canadian to play Major League Baseball this season.
* Walks + Hits / Innings Pitched
