The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Outfielder Brice Matthews Joins The Show

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

Outfielder Brice Matthews Joins The Show 

Our next guest is the pride of Ataskistina High School, which is hard for me to say because Bryce Matthews, my daughter, is about to graduate from Kingwood and she never says anything nice about a Tascistia except you. Bryce, how are you, my friend? I'm great. How are you? I'm fine. I'm fine. Hey, who is your favorite center fielder growing up as you were a kid? Do you even have one? I had a couple.

It was Michael Born, George Springer. and Andrew McCutche and then Adam Jones and those are my favorite outfielder and then you're the number five all-time greatest center fielder in history forgetting about Cesar Sadano I'm not going to now forget that hey you hell of a

hell of a weekend for you in Boston what's it like playing in that stadium first and foremost and secondly how much time are you still spending learning the nuances of every baseball field you go to when you're playing in the outfield well first of all thank you it was fun.

That's a historic place. The place I always wanted to play growing up. You see it on TV all the history of who's all played there and everything. But it's just every day. You try to learn something new. See the angles of the field, how the wall is playing. And it just goes back to just trying to be an athlete and just go make plays whenever the ball is in the air. So how do you feel about Dyken Park after a handful of tries?

It's like a hold home for you now, correct? Yeah, it's nice. I like it. I kind of understand where the ball is going to, like, travel a lot more in center field, like, straight back. It's not going to go as far. And then left center and right center, the ball is going to travel a bit more. So it's just making the right read, getting a good jump, and just go and try to get the ball. Hey, Bryce, you are trying to work your way into a major league roster for the full time and grinding it out.

and I know how important it is for you. Take me through your conversations about the infield play initially, and then Joe saying, look, we need you. We've got an open spot in the outfield. And what steps you took once you knew that your play would be primarily as a defender on the outfield at this point? Honestly, it just goes back to the preparation. Being ready for anything.

I told them whatever the team needed. I was there to help, there to help. there to be available. So I'm just going out there, preparing myself each and every day, whether that's on the infield or the outfield, just get my reps in. If I was in left or our center, same thing. Just making sure I was mentally and physically prepared every day.

How much did you play in high school? And when you were playing, go about the Little League days. Were you bouncing around all parts of the infield and outfield, or was just something that you thought would be something going to be more of a process for you when you got to professional baseball? Yeah, I mean, when I was younger, my dad made it a good point for me to know how to play every position.

And the best ability is availability. And that's a really big thing for him. And so I played at pretty much every position growing up. I kept going out. I was more like shorts, half, second base in middle school. and then in high school when I was like my sophomore year, I played a little bit of outfield and third base. And then my junior year, I was the utility guy,

so I play right, center, left, third, short, and second. And then my senior year, I was a shortstop. Yeah, that's smart that he was able to do that. Bryce Matthews, our guest with us on Sports Talk 790. The bat, how do you feel about the bat at this point? What are the nuances? You're getting a steady diet of majorly pitching every day compared to going back and forth between here in Sugarland.

Where do you see your bat progressing and what do you still want to see done here as you get the most of your opportunities to play? Yeah, I feel like I've been having good at bats all season. Just missing some pitches where I feel like I should have missed, but that's baseball. We're just steady competing in the box, just trying to make more contact. And I feel like if I put the barrel on the ball, good things are going to have. So not trying to swing too hard, just put the barrel on. the ball and I think good things will happen for me.

Got a few new different eyes and ears looking at you in the batting cage and in the video room. What's that been like to get a different set of folks looking at the way that you swing and you perform offensively? It's cool. I mean, just to have great coaches around, we had great coaches

last year with SNET, and dang, I'm blinking on his name. That's fine. That's all right. You got guys. with our hitting coaches and then with big Dan and Posi. It's a lot with the mental side of the game and just trying to be a complete hitter, complete player. And just understanding who I'm facing during the day. What is my plan going into that bats and just trying to have good at bats and compete and just pass the bats the next guy? Well, how about this?

You're going to see Shohei Otani. Have you ever facing before? No, it's going to be the first time. What advice have you been given of any at all? None so far. I mean, it's going to try to do, like you were saying with Yamamoto yesterday, show up, just compete, like, be ready to go. I'm going to have my plan of attack and try to stick with it. Yeah, just have a good plan and stick to my approach and try to get them.

All right, far let you go. You did get your retired number over in the offseason in Taska, Cedar. Who else has been retired beside you? Anybody you know? Um, so my, my right tackle, King and Green, um, my literally coach's son, which is like a family friend, Patrick Taylor, who he's on the, uh, he's on the 49ers, Samuel Cosmy. Um, Patrick's sister Nadia, who is someone I hit with, uh, during the off season a lot. Nice. And then Carson Edwards, he's, uh, he is, uh, he is,

playing basketball in Germany overseas, that's right? Yeah, well, I wish you nothing about the very best. Again, we are so happy that these grabs you're making in center field. I mean, are you building a YouTube page off of these great grabs or is that somebody else's responsibility? I just kind of like watching them at the end of the day. I have them send me, send me the catches and see

how hard to play it was. I think that's the best thing in the end. Just try to make the pitchers happy, you know, make good plays for them. They work so hard, and it's a team. Like, we're just trying to win ball games and try to play together, man. But anything I could do to save a, to take away a hit, take away runs, I'm there. Well, I like that attitude. Bryce, thank you for the time.

Congratulations on the opportunity you're being given right now. Keep it going. And most importantly, stay healthy. That infirmary list continues to grow up by the days, unfortunately. 100%. 100%. Yeah. It's crazy, man. Thanks, Bryce, for joining us. We really appreciate it.