At the start of the 2023 international signing period, the Pittsburgh Pirates added David Matoma as their first signing out of Uganda. The right-handed Matoma is a six-foot, 154 pound right-hander who had a reported 89-92 MPH fastball when he signed with the Pirates.
By the end of the 2023 season, he had pitched 16.2 scoreless innings in the DSL, striking out 14, with a 1.14 WHIP. He was also hitting triple-digits with his fastball.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 17 year old throw 100 miles an hour,” said Pirates’ farm director John Baker. “Saw him do it. Now he’s 18 and he’s repeating it.”
Matoma was invited to minor league Spring Training in Bradenton this year, and stood out for his stuff. Geoff Pontes at Baseball America saw him throwing 95-96, topping out at 97, with a hard gyro slider at 85-88, and an 82-83 MPH changeup.
Signed in January of 2023 out of Uganda 18 year old David Matoma had a loud appearance at Pirate City today. He sat 95-96 mph T97 mph w/ 17-19 inches of IVB, mixed harder gyro slider at 85-88 mph and a changeup, thought I saw a gyro CB at 82-83 as well. Just turned 18 in… pic.twitter.com/O5XigmmiTQ
— Geoff Pontes (@GeoffPontesBA) March 18, 2024
Baker saw him up to 99 MPH in a game at the end of Spring Training, where Matoma used the slider as a weapon to pair with the velocity. Baker watched Matoma fall behind 2-0 with two fastballs, only to come back and throw a back door slider for a strike. That’s advanced comfort in a pitch.
“He’s got a good secondary offering in that slider,” said Baker. “Continued development of the third pitch, but a lot to dream on there. It’s a huge arm from a little guy.”
Matoma is described as “unflappable”, and is locked in and focused with a simplified approach when he’s on the mound.
“He was in the zone last year in the Dominican at a really high rate, for the age, for the level,” said Baker of Matoma, who walked seven in his 16.2 innings. “And it’s more of that, putting the ball in the strike zone forcing people to make decisions.”
Matoma’s velocity and the difficult break on a slider that he can throw for strikes is exactly the recipe to force batters to make decisions. It’s encouraging that he’s doing all of this at a young age, with immediate success in his career and improvements in his stuff. He’s touching triple digits now, but he’s also got plenty of room and time to further develop.
“As he grows and gets bigger and stronger and has more training time underneath him too, I only imagine that stuff’s gonna go up,” said Baker.
Matoma will begin his season in extended Spring Training and will likely make his U.S. debut in the Florida Complex League this summer. He’s got the stuff that he could surprise and end up pitching a few games in Single-A by the end of the year.
