In 2003 he was assigned to the Hagerstown Suns in the Class A South Atlantic League. He pitched well, delivering a 2.55 ERA on 74 innings pitched, delivering 90 strikeouts, 21 earned runs, and 24 walks with just 5 dingers. He was sidelined when he developed a stress fracture in his right elbow.
2004 saw him return to Spring Training healthy and ready to go. He began the season again in the West, this time playing for the High-A California League San Jose Giants. In a league that usually favors batters, Cain gracefully leveled his competition, walking away serenely with a 7-1 record, his first winning record in the minors, a masterful 1.86 ERA, 89 strikeouts, only 17 walks, and a thrifty 15 earned runs. He had an impressive 13 saves over those 13 games and 73 innings pitched.
The Giants promoted him to the Double-A (AA) Norwich Navigators. He struck out four batters in 7 innings without giving up an earned run in his debut with the Navs. He played 15 games with Norwich, pitching 86 innings for a 6-4 record, with a 3.35 ERA, 32 earned runs, 40 walks, and 72 strikeouts.
All of this caught our attention. He made the MLN FAB50 in 2004 with a debut at No. 19 when he was just 19 himself.
Cain has a fastball that moves precisely and smokes by at up to 95 mph, occasionally higher. He has a power curveball in the 80 mph range.
The Giants have been careful to bring Cain along at a measured pace. He wandered the west from Spring Training in Arizona in 2005 to the North, to Fresno, where he received yet another promotion to the Grizzlies in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.
To date, he has a 9-5 record, and a 4.50 ERA on 134 innings of work as a starter in the Grizzlies' rotation. He's mowed down 160 batters and allowed 67 earned runs, 19 of which have been homers.
Welcome to the preview of big league hitting, grasshopper.
We think Cain is a fine pitcher, not quite as fine yet as the scouts and touts seem to think that he is. To us, his greatest asset, other than his signing bonus, is a huge desire to be great. We think that will carry him at least to another pitch or two that he'll need to fool major league hitters. His performance in the Triple-A thus far suggests that Matthew is powerful and confident.
What it also suggests, particularly with the big lift in digits on the dinger count, is that he's not quite ready to snatch the pebbles out of the Master's hand and leave this place. We see him in Fresno through the season, with a possible cup of coffee to check out major league batters in late 2005 or early 2006. If the Giants continue to groom him in the way that they have been doing, we see him in the bullpen by late 2006, a shot at the starting rotation by 2007.
