CBN Player of the Week, Week XVIII - Matt Brash

From left, reliever Nate Fisher, starter Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) reliever Dayeison Arias with C Jake Anchia. Photo: Arkansas Travellers.

September 9, 2021

By George Farelli

Canadian Baseball Network

Matt Brash isn’t Arnie Jarrell.

Not yet.

But he’s off to a fine start. LHP Jarrell (Kingston, Ont.) went 21-8 with a 2.30 ERA for the class-C Border League Kingston Ponies in 1946 to earn the title of the best arm to come out of Canada’s first capital. Jarrell, or Hickory, as he was known fanned 170 in 243 innings for manager Ben Lady.

Times have changed with pitch counts and shifts, yet RHP Brash (Kingston, Ont.) combined on a no hitter as the double-A Arkansas Travellers blanked the Wichita Wind Surge 6-0 before 2,579 fans at Dickey-Stephens Park.

A former Kingston Ponies ace under Randy Casford, Brash is now 6-3 with a 2.08 ERA in 18 games -- 17 starts. He has fanned 131 in 86 1/3 innings. Brash fanned 11 in his six scoreless innings of work for the Travellers

Coming off 21 strikeouts in his past two outings, Brash struck out the first five batters faced and seven of the first eight. He set down the first 18 batters he faced.

“It’s cool when all your teammates are as excited as you,” Brash told Tyler Maun of MLB.com and MiLB.com after the game. “I still don’t really know how to put it into words, but it’s a lot of fun to do that with this group of guys.”

Relievers Nate Fisher (two innings) and Dayeison Arias (one inning) combined on the no-no. Brash equalled a career high with 11 strikeouts -- and faced one batter over the minimum -- a walk -- through six dominant innings.

“I made a plan to throw more change ups,” Brash said. “I did a good job of doing that to lefties and right-handers. It kind of surprised them, I think, because I haven’t been throwing it very much this year. That opened up my fastball, my slider. I got a lot of strikeouts on high fastballs, so I think the change up was key. I’m definitely going to keep rolling with that.”

It was third time Brash has reached 11 whiffs, along with games against class-A Everett at Eugene and an Arkansas start at Frisco. He went out for the seventh and issued a walk. Ball four was Brash’s 90th pitch, 60 for strikes (66.7%) and brought manager Collin Cowgill out of the dugout.

“I’ve never really been a part of this, especially in pro ball,” Brash said. “I was a little nervous. I had butterflies going. The whole dugout was kind of a little tense.”

At Arkansas, the Mariners prospect is 3-1 with a 1.64 ERA in eight starts, fanning 69 batters and walking 16 walks in 44 innings in eight starts. At class-A Everett he was 3-2 with a 2.55 ERA in 10 games -- nine starts -- as he struck out 62 and walked 25 in 42 1/3 innings.

The relievers jumped into the laundry basket and then the late arriving Brash did. All three were soaked in the celebration.

Best Offense Performance

Player/Class/Team AB R H HR RBI AVG

Jordan Nwogu - A Myrtle Beach 20 3 11 1 2 .550

Demi Orimoloye - AA New Hampshire 15 1 6 - 2 .400

Otto Lopez - AAA Buffalo 27 4 10 1 4 .370

Max Wright - Rkie ACL Giants Black 17 2 6 - 1 .353

Charles Leblanc - AAA Round Rock 26 4 8 1 3 .308

Connor Panas - IND Quebec 23 5 10 1 8 .435

David Glaude - IND Quebec 24 6 10 1 9 .417

L.P. Pelletier - IND Quebec 24 11 10 - 4 .417

T.J. Bennett - IND Chicago 17 4 6 1 4 .353

Wes Darvill - IND Winnipeg 26 5 8 - 1 .308

Raphael Gladu - IND Quebec 30 5 9 1 6 .300

(Minimum 10 ABs)

Best Pitching Performance

MATT BRASH RHP - AA ARKANSAS TRAVELERS

APP IP H R ER BB K W-L SV WHIP WK ERA

1 6.0 - - - 1 11 1-0 - 0.17 0.00

It would be an understatement to say that Matt Brash has been a consistent pitcher this year, especially when you consider that this is the fourth time he has been highlighted in our weekly best pitching performances segment. This week’s outing was particularly special because Brash and two relief pitchers threw a nine inning no-hitter. On Sept. 2 in a 6-0 win over Wichita Wind Surge Brash was the starter and set the tone by pitching six scoreless innings, striking out 11 Wind Surge batters, to earn his third win of the season with the Travelers. Double A-Central league records indicate the last no hitter pitched by Arkansas occurred on May 17, 2016 in 6-0 win over NW Arkansas Naturals. This week’s performance improved Brash’s record with the Travelers in eight appearances, to 3-1 with a 1.64 ERA.

Player of the Week

Week I _ Noah Skirrow (Stoney Creek, Ont.) Jersey Shore BlueClaws (Phillies).

Week II _ Otto Lopez (Montreal, Que.) double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Jays) and Trevor Brigden (Toronto, Ont.) class-A Charleston River Dogs (Rays).

Week III _ Andrew Yerzy (Toronto, Ont.) class-A Hillsboro Hops/class-A Visailia Oaks (Diamondbacks)

Week IV _ Indigo Diaz (North Vancouver, BC) class-A Rome Braves (Braves)

Week V _ Edouard Julien (Ancienne-Lorette, Que.) class-A Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels (Twins).

Week VI _ RHP Logan Hofmann (Muenster, Sask.) class-A Bradenton Marauders (Pirates)

Week VII _ INF-OF Otto Lopez (Montreal, Que.) double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Jays).

Week VIII _ RHP Cade Smith (Abbotsford, BC) class-A Lynchburg Hillcats (Cleveland)

Week IX _ RHP Jordan Balazovic (Mississauga, Ont.) double-A Wichita Wind Surge (Twins)

Week X _ C Kole Cottam (Knoxville, Tenn.) class-A East Greenville (Red Sox)

Week XI _ RHP Jordan Balazovic (Mississauga, Ont.) double-A Wichita Wind Surge (Twins)