Daniel Zebulon Matthews...X: @ZebbyMatthews...Instagram: @zebby_m...he and his wife, Kendall, were married in Nov. 2023 in Cashiers, N.C....the couple are high school sweethearts and went to their senior prom together...Kendall is studying to be a physician assistant and due to graduate in May 2026...attended Smoky Mountain High School in Sylva, N.C...began collegiate career at Walters State Community College in 2019...transferred to Western Carolina University, where he pitched from 2020-22, going 13-9, 3.58 ERA (183.1 IP, 71 ER), with 30 walks and 211 strikeouts in 36 games (24 starts)...has always gone by "Zebby" and the only people that call him Daniel are his parents when they're angry with him...has two older brothers, Sammy and Chris...Zebby went on 2025 Twins Winter Caravan in January along with Austin Martin, Justin Morneau and Cory Provus; traveled to Rochester (Minn.), La Crosse (Wis.), Welch (Minn.), St. Cloud (Minn.) and Fargo (N.D.)...participated in 2025 TwinsFest at Target Field...named Wichita Professional Athlete of the Year in 2025, for his work in Double-A in 2024...enjoys NHL hockey, specifically is a fan of the Carolina Hurricanes; tries to go to at least one game per season.
2025
Pitched in first career Major League spring training with Twins...optioned to Triple-A St. Paul on March 16...Began season as Saints' number two starter, making first start on April 1 at Columbus, pitching five shutout innings, with one hit allowed, no walks and four strikeouts...performance earned him Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Week...Went 2-1, 1.93 ERA (32.2 IP, 7 ER) with nine walks and 38 strikeouts in seven starts from April 1-May 10 and was recalled by Minnesota on May 18...Set Major League career-high with nine strikeouts on May 24 vs. Kansas City...pitched four innings in the start, fanning nine of his 18 batters faced...Set Major League career-high with seven innings pitched on May 30 at Seattle, allowing four runs (all in the first inning) on six hits, with one walk and seven strikeouts...Placed on 15-day Injured List on June 8 with a right shoulder strain...made one start on rehab assignment on July 13 vs. Iowa and reinstated on July 19...Pitched first career game of six-or-more shutout innings on July 25 vs. Washington, allowing two hits with no walks and seven strikeouts...Tied season/career-high with nine strikeouts again on Aug. 11 at New York-AL (5.2 IP)...Set career-high with four walks on Aug. 16 vs. Detroit...Finished season in Twins rotation, pitching 46 innings after Aug. 1, third-most on club (Ober - 54.1, Ryan - 49.2)...Combined to go 7-7, 4.34 ERA (116.0 IP, 56 ER) with 33 walks and 135 strikeouts in 24 starts.
2024
Entered as No. 15 prospect in Twins system per Baseball America, and No. 24 per MLB.com...Also named as having the best fastball and best control among all Twins Minor Leaguers by Baseball America...Began season with High-A Cedar Rapids and issued zero walks across four starts for Kernels...Named Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Week three times on season: April 14 with Cedar Rapids, April 29 with Cedar Rapids and May 12 with Double-A Wichita...Named Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Month for April, going 3-0, 2.30 ERA (15.2 IP, four ER) with no walks and 19 strikeouts in three starts for Kernels...Named Midwest League Pitcher of the Week on May 5, making one start against Peoria, tossing seven scoreless innings with three hits allowed, no walks and nine strikeouts...Promoted to Double-A on May 6...Struck out season-high nine batters in back-to-back starts: May 3 with Cedar Rapids vs. Peoria (7.0 IP) and May 9 with Wichita vs. Arkansas (6.2 IP in his Double-A debut)...Went 2-1, 1.95 ERA (55.1 IP, 12 ER) with six walks and 63 strikeouts in 10 games (nine starts) for the Wind Surge from May 9-July 9...Named Texas League All-Star after season...Promoted to Triple-A St. Paul on July 15...Made four starts for the Saints from July 21-Aug. 8, going 10-2, 5.68 ERA (19.0 IP, 12 ER)...Had contract selected by Minnesota on Aug. 13...Became first Twins pitcher since Randy Dobnak in 2019 to pitch at four separate levels of the Twins organization, including at Minnesota, in one season...Made Major League debut on Aug. 13 vs. Kansas City, allowing two runs on five hits in five innings pitched, with no walks and five strikeouts, while earning the victory...First career strikeout was of Bobby Witt Jr. in first inning...He and David Festa (first win: June 27 at ARI) became the third pair of rookie starters in Twins history to win their debuts in the same season...The other two were Darrell Jackson and Roger Erickson in 1978, and Kyle Gibson and Andrew Albers in 2013...One of three rookies the Twins relied on in five-man rotation down the stretch as club was seeking a postseason berth (also: David Festa and Simeon Woods Richardson)...Went 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA (15.0 IP, five ER), two walks and 13 strikeouts in first three Major League starts from Aug. 13-25, but allowed nine runs on 10 hits in two innings pitched in fourth start on Aug. 31 vs. Toronto...Combined to go 7-7 with a 3.74 ERA (134.2 IP, 56 ER), 18 walks, 157 strikeouts and a .243 opponents' batting average in 27 games across four levels of Twins organization, including Minnesota...Led all Minor League pitchers (minimum of 90.0 innings pitched) in strikeout-to-walk ratio (16.29), walks-per-9.0 innings (0.65) and WHIP (0.87), and ranked second in fielding independent pitching (2.31)...Named Jim Rantz Award winner for Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year...Went 6-3 with a 2.60 ERA (97.0 IP, 28 ER), seven walks, 114 strikeouts, a .212 opponent batting average and a 0.87 WHIP in 18 games (17 starts) in the 2024 Minor League season, split among High-A Cedar Rapids (four games, all starts), Double-A Wichita (10 games, nine starts) and Triple-A St. Paul (four games, all starts)...Ranked by Baseball America as fourth-best prospect in Twins system entering 2025...Also ranked as having the best fastball and best control...Later ranked by same publication as 73rd-best prospect in baseball entering 2025.
