Matt Macri Gets a Taste of Major League Baseball

Ten years after a chance meeting between a pre-high school baseball player and a blind hitting coach both would probably agree that it was the start of something pretty special.  That young ballplayer is now contending for playing time with the Minnesota Twins, and the ol' coach is taking a lot of pride these days in seeing one of his top students reach the highest level of the sport. 

In the winter of 1998, young Matt Macri was in Omaha for a baseball showcase at Bellevue University.  Looking for a quick fix for a glitch in his son's swing, Matt's dad asked locals if there was a hitting instructor nearby who might be able to help out.  Pro scout Marty Wolever of Papillion, currently scouting director for the Philadelphia Phillies, directed the Macris to Mark Wetzel's hitting facility north of Omaha, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Following that initial meeting, young Macri and two of his fellow teammates from Dowling Catholic High School -- Drew Davidson and Zach Dillon -- began making the five-hour round trip commute from West Des Moines, Iowa to Omaha once a week to hit with Coach Wetzel.  That spring Matt became the first freshman starting position player at Dowling in over thirty years.  During his high school career, Macri hit for a .444 average and helped the Maroons win state championships as a sophomore in 1999 and a senior in 2001.  In the spring of his junior year, Macri was one of two USA Baseball players named to the all-tournament team at the 2000 Junior Pan American Games in Sonora, Mexico after hitting .353 with 9 walks, 5 steals and 12 runs in 9 games to help his team win Bronze.  That summer for Dowling, he hit .462 with 16 home runs, a 1.025 slugging percentage and 52 RBI's in forty games and was named a third-team All-American by the National High School Baseball Coaches Association.  

Following a senior campaign in which he batted .465 with 9 home runs and 51 RBI's to lead the Maroons (42-3) to their second state title in three years, Macri was named Iowa's Baseball Player of the Year and the state's Gatorade High School Baseball Player of the Year.  Projected to be Iowa's first ever first-round major league draft pick, Macri slipped to the seventeenth round (Minnesota Twins) based on his strong commitment to  accept a scholarship offer from Coach Paul Mainieri (now at LSU) to attend the University of Notre Dame.  Macri was also a Division I prospect in football as quarterback of two nationally ranked teams at Dowling and led the Maroons to their first ever state title as a senior, throwing for over 2,000 yards and running for more than 1,500.  He was named All-State and Mr. Football for Iowa. 

Following a freshman season at Notre Dame that was cut short by Tommy John surgery, Macri started at shortstop in all sixty games for the Irish as a sophomore and ranked atop the team in walks (26) and triples (5), was third in home runs (4), slugging pct. (.467), sacrifice bunts (7) and total bases (100), fourth in five categories (63 hits, 15 doubles, 6-of-9 stolen bases, 6 hit-by-pitch and 60 games started), fifth in RBI (35) and sixth in runs (41) with his other stats including a .294 batting average. He spent the summer with the Brewster Whitecaps in the Cape Cod League, finishing second in the league in home runs with seven and earning a ranking as the #19 prospect in the prestigious league by Baseball America. 

During his junior year, Matt led the #15-ranked Irish in average (.367), runs (76), hits (87), doubles (15), triples (7) and home runs (14) while playing at third base. He compiled a .467 OBP and slugged .667.  He was named second team All-America (Baseball America, USA Today Sports Weekly, Collegiate Baseball magazine), third team All-America (National Collegiate Baseball Writers), first team all-BIG EAST, BIG EAST Tournament MVP, BIG EAST player of the week (April 5, May 17), Alamo City Irish Baseball Classic all-tournament team and was selected in the 5th round of the 2004 amateur draft by the Colorado Rockies. 

Dowling teammates Davidson and Dillon, who along with Macri continued to hit with Wetzel throughout their high school careers and beyond, were also recruited to play at Division I schools with Davidson earning Freshman All-American honors at the University of Illinois in 2002 and Dillon going to Baylor where he was a two-time All-Big 12 catcher and played in the College World Series for the Bears.  Davidson was drafted by the Padres, and Dillon was selected by the Orioles.

After joining the Rockies organization, Macri was assigned initially to the Tri-City Dust Devils. He hit .333 for that team in 2004, leading the team in average, RBI (43), OBP (.410) and slugging (.569). He was third in the Northweast League in average, second in slugging percentage and was named to the League All-Star team at third base.

In 2005, Macri hit .283 in 64 games for the Modesto Nuts while battling wrist problems. The next year, he moved to second base for the AA Tulsa Drillers but batted only .233 before a broken bone in his hand ended his season in mid-July.

Healthy again in 2007, Macri hit .298 in 79 games for the Drillers before a late season promotion to the AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the Pacific Coast League where he was 6-for-9 with 2 doubles and a homer. The Rockies traded him to the Minnesota Twins for Ramon Ortiz, and he finished the year with the Twins' AAA Rochester Red Wings, batting .213 in 14 games.

After going to spring training with the Twins, Macri opened 2008 with Rochester and hit .263 with nine home runs in his first 29 games. He got called up to the majors when Adam Everett was injured and debuted in a 19-3 loss to Detroit on May 24. Hitting 8th and playing third, he was the bright spot for Minnesota, going 2 for 3 with a walk, steal, a run scored and an RBI. He singled off Nate Robertson in his first MLB at-bat, stole second and scored on an Alexi Casilla homer. In his second MLB at-bat, he singled to right to earn his first major league RBI and finished his debut 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored. 

Matt played in four games (3-for-7 with a double, a walk, an RBI and a run scored) before being sent back to Rochester on June 4 to make space on the roster for Scott Baker. While Matt was waiting to board his plane to return to Rochester, he was summoned to join the Twins for the series in Chicago against the White Sox when Nick Punto went on the fifteen-day disabled list.  He went 4-for-11 in that three game series and stayed with the Twins through June 24 when Punto returned. 

Matt finished out the minor league season, playing in eighty-nine games for the Red Wings before returning to the Twins on  September 1.  He saw little action during the tight division race against the White Sox, getting to the plate only four times.

When asked about his experience with the Twins, Matt replied, "Even though it was kind of up and down, it was a great experience -- and it was really exciting to be a part of the playoff push at the end of the season."  2008 provided Matt's first opportunity ever to go to spring training with a Major League ballclub, and he was doing so with an organization that he had been with only for a couple of weeks at the end of the 2007 season.  "Last year it was all new to me," observed Matt, "and I was new to the Twins, having just been traded from the Rockies at the end of the previous season.  After having spent some time with other players for the Twins last season, I know a lot more about the organization and feel a lot more comfortable about going to spring training next year." 

Most of Macri's playing time with the Twins in 2008 was at third base, although he did start one game at second and got in some innings at first.  "They told me, 'hey, you're already playing second, third and short, you might as well work out at first too,' and I also took some fly balls in outfield practice and expect to do more of that in spring training.  That way if they need someone to come off the bench to hit, I'll have a better chance of staying in the game since I can play more positions."

As far as goals for next year, Matt stated, "Baseball is a game of consistency.  The guys who get to play are those who play well consistently.  I have room to improve on everything, but the overall goal is developing consistency." 

About his decade-long tutelage under Wetzel, Macri commented, "Everyone has their own idea on hitting.  Volumes have been written about it.  But what Mark teaches works for me.  I've even had guys from other AAA teams come up and ask me about what Wetzel teaches and whether it works.  I always just answer, 'it works beautifully for me.'  If I'm slumping or struggling at the plate, I can call Mark, and he seems to be able to talk me through it and remind me of the drills we've worked on together.  And it always helps.  It's weird, but he just knows my swing so well, he can help me figure things out even though he's not there to see what I'm doing.  He's been a great friend and a great teacher."

| Information about Matt Macri on Twins MLB website |