Former Orioles closer Zack Britton couldn’t help but think about the late Brian Matusz when visiting Sarasota as a spring training guest instructor.
Matusz and Britton leaned on one another during their time in Baltimore. Matusz was drafted fourth overall by the Orioles in 2008, then made 279 appearances for the big league club from 2009-2016. Britton was drafted by the Orioles in 2006 and pitched for the team from 2011-2018.
All the memories came flooding back for Britton when he was in Sarasota from Feb. 18-20.
“There are so many stories. He really took me under his wing like a big brother. Being left-handed, we were throwing partners,” Britton said on Glenn Clark Radio March 4. “He was a little bit older, barely, but he treated me like a younger brother forever. He always looked out for me and he was always supportive of me. He was just a good friend. I miss him. There are so many memories. When I went back to Sarasota, it was tough for a second because I remember being there with him. He was just a good guy.”
Matusz was developed as a starting pitcher and showed flashes in that role until a strained intercostal muscle led to a rough season in 2011. The 6-foot-5, 190-pound lefty was moved to the bullpen by the middle of the 2012 season and thrived. He posted a 3.32 ERA with 159 strikeouts in 151.2 innings as a full-time reliever from 2013-2015, becoming one of the more reliable matchup lefties in the American League.
Matusz’s last major league appearance came with the Chicago Cubs in 2016. He hung up the cleats after pitching in the Atlantic and Mexican Leagues in 2019. Matusz died in January of an apparent drug overdose at the age of 37.
“He struggled post-playing, and that’s OK. People struggle. It’s not a fairy tale,” Britton said. “There’s real people that struggle, and he did, but it doesn’t change that fact that he was a good person. Sometimes you wish that you could’ve done more for people like that, but he was a good guy and he struggled. It’s just a really sad ending to what should have been a lot more for him. He had a lot of good things in his future and it was just maybe hard for him to see that. Being a really good friend for him, it was really tough to see how it all unfolded.”
Matusz was very involved with Casey Cares, a Columbia-based nonprofit that works with families of critically ill children. Matusz visited kids at the hospital, hosted them at Camden Yards and more:
Matusz remained a Casey Cares board member even after leaving the Orioles.
“He loved the city. He loved those kids,” Britton said. “That’s what people should remember about him, but you can’t forget about the fact that people do struggle. For me, it made me realize that maybe those people that I lost contact with over time from playing, some of those guys struggle and sometimes they just need somebody to reach out to them and be like, ‘Hey man, there’s more to it than just playing baseball. … There’s so many more reasons to be positive about life and things like that.’ I just wish it didn’t come at the price of losing him.”
For more from Britton, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credits: Mitch Stringer and Kenya Allen/PressBox