Sunday, February 9, 2014

Meet A Prospect: Matt Daley


This is sure to make my good friend and fellow Greedy Pinstripes writer Patrick Walsh happy as he is a big fan of local Long Island boy Matt Daley. Matthew Thomas "Matt" Daley was born on June 23, 1982 in Queens, New York and was raised in Garden City, New York. Matt spent his High School years at Garden City High School and graduated in the year 2000 after helping GCHS win the New York State Class B baseball championship. Daley spent his college years at Bucknell University where he was a member of Delta Upsilon. Now he is back for one more season with the New York Yankees trying to crack the bullpen as a long man or middle reliever. Daley will always be remembered, even if he doesn’t throw another pitch in Yankees pinstripes, as the man who followed Mariano Rivera after his final appearance in Yankee Stadium and his Major League career.

Daley made his Minor League debut in 2004 and spent 2005 and the 2006 seasons bouncing around between the Casper Rockies, the Asheville Tourists, and the Tulsa Drillers. Daley repeated AA with Tulsa again in 2007 before bouncing around again between the Drillers and the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in 2008 posting a 4-6 record in 63 total games. Daley finally made his Major League debut on April 25, 2009 with the Colorado Rockies against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Daley pitched an inning and got a strike out. Daley had a nice rookie season which included not giving up a single run from July 8 to August 16. Which equates to a 14.2 innings scoreless streak. That scoreless streak was the longest by a Rockies reliever in 2009 and very impressive when you remember the thin air over there in Coors Field.


Daley had rotator cuff surgery in August of 2011 which ended his 2011 campaign and also cause him to miss the entire 2012 season. Daley signed a minor league contract with the Yankees when fully healed and received an invitation to Spring Training. Daley did not make the team out of camp but stuck around in AAA with the Scranton Wilkes Barre RailRiders and was a September call up in 2013. On September 6 Daley made his first appearance as a Yankee and, as I mentioned earlier, was the man who came in and finished off the inning in which Mariano Rivera made his final appearance of his career at Yankee Stadium. Daley struck out the batter on three pitches only to be non tendered by the Yankees this offseason. Daley is back though on another minor league deal that he signed on December 19, 2013 and will look once again to crack the team out of spring training again.


You have to like Matt Daley, or at least root for him. He is a local boy and pitches from the heart and it’s hard not to get behind him. Good luck Matt this Spring and maybe you can crack the bullpen and finally get the shot you have been working so hard for.  Go Yankees and go Matt Daley.

2 comments:

  1. Ellijay Burch...your absolute best work to date.
    Matt 'Balfour' Daley is ready.

    ReplyDelete

Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)