Matthew Boyd has exceeded most exterior expectations. Chosen within the sixth spherical of the 2013 draft out of Oregon State College, the 34-year-old southpaw was ranked twenty ninth when our 2015 Toronto Blue Jays Prime Prospects record was printed that March. He’d pitched nicely the earlier yr — a 3.17 ERA between Excessive-A and Double-A — however as our then-lead prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel wrote, “Some scouts nonetheless suppose there isn’t sufficient right here to stay as a starter.” Given Boyd’s comparatively quick monitor report of success, the skepticism was comprehensible.
The left-hander’s personal expectations had been loftier, and he wasted little time in proving his doubters incorrect. Boyd made his main league debut three months later, and never solely did he accomplish that as a starter, he’s gone on to make 170 of his 184 profession appearances in that function. Now in his eleventh huge league season, and his first with the Chicago Cubs, Boyd has by no means been front-of-the-rotation good — his profession ERA and FIP are 4.79 and 4.56 respectively — however he’s been efficient when wholesome. The issue is that Boyd typically hasn’t been wholesome; over the previous 4 years alone, he’s missed 390 days of the season as a consequence of damage. It’s early, in fact, however to this point in 2025, Boyd has been each wholesome and efficient. Throughout his two begins, he’s thrown 11 scoreless innings.
What did Boyd’s 2015 scouting report appear to be? Furthermore, what does he consider it a full decade later? Wanting to seek out out, I shared a few of what McDaniel wrote and requested Boyd to reply to it.
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“Boyd was a senior signal out of Oregon State in 2013 that obtained $75,000 within the sixth spherical after making actual progress in his final newbie yr.”
“That’s fairly spot on,” Boyd mentioned. “It was my first season beginning after relieving, taking part in first base, and DHing. I turned down the Reds, went again to high school, and obtained the possibility to pitch on Fridays all yr. I obtained to showcase all of my pitches and the way I might assault hitters a number of occasions by the lineup. Individuals lastly obtained to see what I had. Personally, I’ve little doubt I’d have performed what I did had I began all 4 years. I’ve a whole lot of confidence in my capacity. So yeah, there’s positively fact to that. I lastly obtained to point out one thing I hadn’t proven the primary three years.”
“He’s at all times been a little bit funky, however Boyd went from a LOOGY to a doable starter after elevating his arm slot and smoothing out his supply a bit.”
“Yeah, so true,” Boyd replied. “After my junior yr I had a chat with Pat Casey and Nate Yeskie, the top coach and pitching coach at Oregon State. I used to be like, ‘Hey, I need to come again, however there are issues I consider I can do, and need to do, if I come again.’ I informed them that I needed the chance, the runway, to point out that I might take a beginning job there.
“One of many [adjustments] was elevating my arm slot. That will assist my entire pitch combine. It might assist my changeup and curveball be extra constant. I’d be a four-pitch pitcher who might assault each righties and lefties.”
“He sits 88-92 and hits 94 mph with a strong common changeup, a fringy curveball, and a below-average slider.”
“I imply, that’s most likely how they’d rank it out,” Boyd responded. “However at that degree, nobody was hitting my slider. My curveball has at all times been my fourth pitch, nevertheless it was efficient as nicely. So, which may have been true, nevertheless it’s not how I believed in it.
“I leaned on my slider a ton,” added Boyd, referring to his 1-0 win over Indiana College in a Faculty World Sequence elimination sport. “That final outing in Omaha, I most likely used it round 35 occasions in my complete-game begin. Nevertheless it’s a kind of issues. [Scouts] had been making trustworthy evaluations for it on the subsequent degree. They had been doing their finest interpretation of ‘Do we expect that performs in skilled baseball?’ So, that’s not too stunning. Everybody has at all times form of mentioned that about me, despite the fact that I’ve believed in myself. I’ve at all times held myself in increased regard.”
“Fastball command and a constant breaking pitch is what’s holding him again.”
“Attention-grabbing,” Boyd mentioned. “Possibly anyone caught me on a nasty day? I had fairly good command, and I believed my breaking pitch was fairly constant. Possibly it simply wasn’t constant by the framework of how they had been projecting me on the subsequent degree. To them, constant on the school degree wasn’t constant within the professional degree. However I’ve at all times prided myself within the capacity to adapt, and proceed to develop my sport.”
“The doubtless end result is a spot starter/lengthy man that may match up on lefties and be a worthwhile member of a workers, however the lack of a breaking ball would make him a non-traditional LOOGY.”
“I really like that,” Boyd mentioned. “I like it as a result of I believed that I used to be significantly better than that. It’s at all times good to concentrate on how individuals view your expertise, however finally, your perception goes to hold how far you go.”
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Earlier “Previous Scouting Stories Revisited” interviews could be discovered by these hyperlinks: Cody Bellinger, Dylan Stop, Matt Chapman, Ian Happ, Jeff Hoffman, Matthew Liberatore.