PORT ST. LUCIE — It wasn’t vintage Matt Harvey, but it was good enough to be a huge sigh of relief for the Mets.
Hours after the team announced that oft-injured lefty Steven Matz was scratched from his scheduled start because of elbow tenderness, Harvey went out and had his best performance of the spring.
“Looking to what has kind of happened throughout spring, I think the excitement of each start getting better and better, not necessarily numbers wise, but the way my body felt, I felt like it was only a matter of time” Harvey said after calling Sunday’s appearance his biggest step forward of the spring. “I think today definitely helped continue that.”
The righthander, who is coming off surgery to remove one of his ribs to improve the circulation to his hand, went six innings against the Braves allowing two runs on five hits. He threw 82 pitches with his fastball topping out at 97 mph in the first inning and sitting 93-94. His fastball also had good movement, according to a scout in the stands, and his breaking balls had “depth.” He worked out of the stretch five out of the six innings, allowing him to work on that.
“Obviously the last start I was able to dial (the velocity) up a little bit and check that box off and today, as far as making quality pitches with runners on base, in the stretch position, today was big step forward,” Harvey said.
After not seeing his fastball top 94 for his first three starts and be “straight as a string,” Sunday was a relief. The Mets had questions about whether Harvey would be able to start the season in the Mets rotation. On Monday, in his fourth start, when he started to pick up some velocity, Harvey “answered” those questions, but they were waiting for Sunday’s start to make sure he bounced back.
He seemingly answered any lingering questions about his progress on Sunday in his fifth start of the spring.
“Very, very pleased,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “He’s been feeling better each time out. The other day, he threw a good side and he’s been doing some exercises that are making him feel a lot better. I thought he was very impressive today.”
Both Collins and Harvey said he is ready to head north with the team Thursday.
After being diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome last July, Harvey had the surgery which forced older pitchers like Josh Beckett and Chris Carpenter into retirement, but revived Chris Young’s career.
Harvey admitted it has been a long and not always easy journey back to health and it is one that he is very conscious of not wanting to have to go through again. He’s invested in earlier mornings and stretching and exercises to stay healthy moving forward.
“I am definitely a lot more patient with getting the work done before I start any type of activity,” Harvey said. “In years past, when I was a little bit younger, you could kind of go out there and go, but I don’t want have any more surgeries. So spending an extra hour, waking up an extra early, is something I have been dedicated to doing and it is definitely paid off.”
Hours after disappointing news that the Mets may have to start the season without Steven Matz, it was reassuring to hear Harvey talk about maintaining his health. It was even a bigger relief for Harvey and the Mets to see the righthander take another step toward being back to himself.
