Astros giving Matt Gage the opportunity he's been craving

This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart’s Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Not everyone’s path to the big leagues is the same. Jose Altuve jumped right from Double-A Corpus Christi to the Astros in 2011 and never looked back. Alex Bregman was drafted out of LSU in '15 and reached the Majors only 13 months later. Then there’s the winding road of left-hander Matt Gage.

Gage, a relief pitcher who was claimed off waivers by the Astros earlier this month, is with his sixth organization since the Giants selected him out of Siena College in the 10th round of the 2014 MLB Draft. That doesn’t include his stints in the Mexican Pacific Winter League and the Constellation Energy League, a short-lived product of the COVID-19 pandemic in '20.

After making his Major League debut last year with the Blue Jays at 29 years old, Gage was put on release waivers in the offseason instead of outright waivers, which meant he could turn down any team and become a free agent. But the Astros offered him a signing bonus, and a deal was consummated right before the Super Bowl kicked off on Feb. 12.

“It’s amazing,” Gage said. “I’m coming over from a competitive organization to a competitive organization, and taking advantage of my opportunity is really what I'm looking for. Honestly, just coming into this locker room and seeing what these guys were able to accomplish last year and trying to be a part of that, it's amazing. So I'm just looking forward to playing my role when I get called upon and try to do my best for [general manager] Dana [Brown] and [manager] Dusty [Baker] and the organization.”

Gage is competing for a spot in Houston's bullpen with fellow lefties Blake Taylor, Parker Mushinski and Austin Davis. Baker might prefer to carry two lefties, but the Astros probably only have one slot for a southpaw. Gage posted a 1.38 ERA in 11 games with Toronto in 2022, bouncing between Triple-A Buffalo and the big leagues. He struck out 24% of the batters he faced and had a 48.4% ground-ball rate. Gage also had a 27.4% strikeout rate in 42 1/3 Triple-A innings.

“I’m happy to have this opportunity,” he said. “There’s a lot of perks to this organization, especially from [the] pitching side of things. I’m kind of open to … just trying to learn, being a sponge and trying to get as much information as I can. I’m really looking forward to working with [pitching coaches] Josh [Miller] and [Bill] Murphy and seeing what they can do. I’ve heard so much about those guys, and I want to learn. I don’t care what my role is. I just want to pitch better and play this game as long as I can.”

Gage’s path has taught him lessons on the business side of baseball and led him to appreciate every opportunity he gets. He reached Double-A in his first full season as a pro, but the call to the big leagues proved to be elusive. He was released by the Giants in 2018 and then signed with the Mets; in '19, he signed with the Rockies and was released less than two months later.

“The last day of camp, they said, ‘Hey, we don't really have a spot for you. You can hang out here at extended [spring camp] or you can go to Mexico,’” Gage said. “Right away, I said, ‘All right, I’ll go to Mexico.’ Also, Mexico [was] paying me three times the amount that the Rockies wanted to pay me, so it wasn't that bad of a thing.”

The D-backs picked Gage up in February 2021, and he signed as a free agent with the Blue Jays ahead of the '22 season. But it was in the Constellation Energy League with Sugar Land -- coincidentally, the site of the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate -- that Gage shortened his arm slot and responded with a significant velocity jump.

“I just was like 86, 88 [mph] as a starter, and I could kind of run it up to 91, 92 in the first inning if I was feeling good,” he said. “But then, once I changed my mechanics, my first pitch in the Constellation League was 94, and I had topped out at maybe 93 once in my entire life.”

Gage’s stuff caught the attention of the Astros, and now he hopes to catch theirs. All he wants is an opportunity.

“I am completely OK with being in Triple-A, and whenever they need me in the big leagues, coming up and going down,” he said. “That’s the same role I had with the Jays, and I was OK with it. Everyone needs to do their role, and to win a championship, these guys did that really well last year. … I’m playing with house money. It was all about getting here, so whatever happens, I’m OK with it.”