Lehigh pitcher Matt Svanson shutting out the SFCBL

There is clearly a big difference between what Lehigh saw out of Matt Svanson and what the South Florida Collegiate Baseball League is seeing.

At Lehigh, Svanson has a 6.51 ERA in 25 total appearances, 10 of which were starts. This spring, he started all four games but recorded a 7.77 ERA.

In five starts with the West Boca Snappers, Svanson has an ERA of 0.00 and his last two starts saw him strike out eight batters. Svanson’s arsenal features a sinker, slider and changeup mix. His sinker is  his first pitch which is aimed for ground ball outs and his slider is his strikeout pitch. 

Much of his performance has been credited to his head coach and former Miami Marlins minor league pitcher, Riley MacEachern.

“Riley’s been awesome,” Svanson said. “Because he’s a former pro player, he is so well with mechanics and be able to communicate with me. We have a pretty good relationship for the most part. Whenever I have an issue on the mound, he’s able to self-correct me.”

MacEachern was drafted in the 33rd round by the Marlins out of Stony Brook in 2015 and spent thre as a reliever going as far as Single-A Greensboro.

According to MacEachern, it didn’t take much to unlock Svanson’s potential.

“He had it the whole time,” MacEachern said, “just needed to get him to gain that confidence.”

Svanson was originally slated to pitch in the Cape Cod League but it got canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So instead he was recruited by MacEachern to pitch for the Snappers and now they are on top of the South Division with a five game lead.

Svanson is not alone in the SFCBL. There are two other Lehigh pitchers and first baseman Charlie Von Werne are also with him in the league. Luke Rettig has a 1.89 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 19 innings over five games with the Palm Beach Diamond Ducks and Mason Black has 25 strikeouts in 18 innings and an ERA of 1.00 in five starts.

“We push each other all the time, Svanson said. “We want to be No. 1 going into next year and it’s a battle every time. Obviously what matters to us is we win three games each weekend but but right here want to go and see each other absolutely dominate.”

The season runs through July 30 followed by the playoffs. As it currently stands, it looks like there could be a matchup between Rettig and Svanson for the title.