PORT ST. LUCIE — The last phrase Matt Harvey ever wants to hear again is “innings limit,” and according to a Mets source, he won’t this year.
After a 2015 season that was full of controversy surrounding how much Harvey should pitch in his first season after Tommy John surgery, as had been expected, the Mets ace will not have any set innings limit after surpassing the 200-inning mark.
Last year, Harvey strained against the Mets’ plans for his rehab from October 2013 surgery almost from the beginning, pushing to get back in under a year. In August, his agent Scott Boras blindsided the Mets, saying that his client had to be shut down after 180 innings and charging that the team would be putting the pitcher in peril if it pitched him beyond that.
But, he and the other young guns on staff will be watched very carefully after the Mets' run to the World Series pushed their workload well beyond the normal 30-inning-per-year progression for young pitchers.
In fact, Harvey set the record for most innings ever pitched in the first season back from Tommy John surgery — and they were mostly quality innings. Harvey struck out 188 and walked just 37 through 189.1 regular-season innings and finished with a 2.71 ERA. With his 36.2 innings in the postseason, the 26-year-old pitched 216 in the first season back from the elbow surgery.
That 200-inning mark is huge for Harvey and the Mets. That is
the milestone when teams take the limits off young pitchers. Harvey was clearly thrilled with that idea.
“I can throw over 200 innings. First time I’ve ever done that,” said Harvey, who arrived at the Mets spring training complex for voluntary workouts Monday. “It’s kind of a milestone you want to reach as a starting pitcher, the 200-inning mark and I felt great doing it and excited to kind of repeat that.”
