Growing up in Canada, Red Sox pitching prospect Matt Duffy credits his dad for getting him into baseball
In the eyes of Canadians, hockey is their celebrated national sport. Despite that, not all Canadian male athletes play hockey; in fact, some never even lace up a pair of skates and learn how to skate on the ice.
For Red Sox minor league pitcher Matt Duffy, he never played hockey; instead, he grew up playing baseball.
“I mean, obviously baseball isn't the most popular sport you could say in Canada,” said Duffy on the “To the Show We Go” baseball podcast, presented by Beyond the Monster. "Obviously, a lot of kids play hockey. I mean, yeah, our national sport is lacrosse too, but I don't think many people play lacrosse all that much.
“But growing up being a baseball fan, obviously you have all the guys that play baseball in the area, but it's really not that popular of a sport. My dad got me into baseball at a very early age. I think I started playing in grade one, so I was like five or six.”
Growing up, Duffy never had a “favorite team” to root for, but his dad helped fuel his love for the game. Duffy credits his father, Phil, for being the most influential person in his baseball life. His dad played in the Kansas City A’s system, going 3-0 with a 3.09 ERA, striking out 34 and walking 20 in 32 innings.
“I think his dad got him into it,” Duffy said of his father’s fondness for the game.
“I never met his parents, but I believe he got into that through his dad. But then my dad actually played professionally for two years.
“He got signed by, I believe he got signed by the A's, and they were the Kansas City A's at the time, so they weren't even in Oakland yet. He played two years, and he got released because he got injured. And obviously, in the 1960s, you don't have the same type of training staff and training, and sort of, what would you say, ramifications, I guess.
“So he couldn't really come back from his injury. So yeah, he played pro for two years, so that's kind of, I guess, the reason why he got me and my brother into it.”
Duffy admits that he never got into playing hockey and that his only focus was on playing baseball.
“Pretty much went through the city's teams and whatever, started playing travel ball when I got to the age of 13. I played through that circuit until I got to my senior (year) of high school and then committed to Canisius College, or Canisius University now in Buffalo. But yeah, baseball is really not all that big, so it was different trying to get into the groove of things, like not being a hockey player and whatnot.
“I had never played ice hockey in my life, so I feel like that makes me not as Canadian, as some people may say. But yeah, it was different. But I mean, I don't know.”
Duffy played his first full professional season in the Red Sox organization last season, pitching in 22 games (21 starts), posting a 4-5 record with a 2.83 ERA while striking out 100 batters and walking 29 in 98 2/3 innings.
The 23-year-old hurler took time to reflect on his 2024 season and admitted that despite his strong numbers, he got off to a slow start.
“I think I definitely had a very up and down year, but like down at the start. And then once I started getting experience throwing to pro hitters, like, I think it just went way up from there. I started off the year pretty slow.
“I think my first eight or nine starts; I think I was doing all right. I think I had probably a four-ERA. ERA is not the greatest stat to look at, but it's a good stat to view if you're doing well or not in a way.”
The righty pitches from a three-quarter arm slot and offers a three-pitch mix that won’t overpower hitters. Duffy throws a fastball that sits between 88-92 mph, a 79-81 mph changeup, and a 77-80 mph slider that has movement like a sweeper. He calls himself a strike thrower and works on creating imbalance with hitters on the mound.
“I'd say I had like a four ERA through probably 40 innings,” said Duffy of his season. “I was doing all right, but I didn't feel like I was doing that great. Like my VLO was kind of sitting around like 90 to 92, which is similar to kind of what it was in college.
“I don't know; I just felt so flat. I didn't feel like I was really progressing all that much. And something clicked either; I knew my weight went up, like I was 200 (pounds) when I first got with the Red Sox, and I'm 215, and I was 215 during the end portion of the season. Either my weight or I was moving better and whatnot, but my VELO skyrocketed. I was now sitting 92 to 95, and my pitchers were moving better. And I think for my last 10 starts, I probably had like a one ERA.”
The Sox envisioned Duffy as a starter when they drafted him out of Canisius. While he played collegiate ball there, he recorded a 17-5 record.
During the 2023 draft, Red Sox amateur scouting director Devin Pearson told reporters that the team had one focus, draft athletes, which is what they’re got in Duffy.
“I’m going to sound like a broken record,” Pearson said. “But (the focus was) athletes and makeup, man. We’re betting on these really good athletes with bat speed and twitch and makeup that we believe in to reach their ceiling.
“We took (Matt) Duffy because we really liked the talent there. We think he’s going to be a starter.”
