Matt Bywater interview

While we wait for the stroke of midnight....... Pepperdine pitcher Matt Bywater confirmed tonight that he agreed to a bonus of $195,000 to come to terms with the Orioles. He said the O's upped their offer sometime around 4 pm West Coast time today and he happily accepted the deal. "We were getting the feeling that was where it was going to stay. Going into the day, we needed them to go up a little and they did, so we jumped on it." So now he gets to live out his dream and play pro ball. "This is what I've always wanted to do. I would have liked to get out there earlier this summer, at the same time, I enjoyed the summer to the max and now I'm going to go out there and get started and try to help the team and myself." Bywater said the last few days were nerve racking waiting to see if he would get signed or not. "It's been hell. It sucked. It was really stressful on me and my family but now that it's over we're really happy." Bywater said he started to develop his change-up that has become his best pitch in high school, when his coach told him he needed a third pitch. Bywater said he will head for Aberdeen late this week after he undergoes a physical. He said his arm is sound and there are no issues at all. "When the season ended, I took some time off and hadn't done that in a while. Since, I've been working out and throwing. I wouldn't say I'm game ready right now, but I'm pretty darn close." The 21-year-old lefty went 6-5, 2.40 for Pepperdine this season in 13 starts over 97 2/3 innings.