Just Mets

The pitch count through 5 2/3 innings tells the story as to where the gem of the Mets organization is at this point in his recovery from elbow surgery, and the stuff and the visuals reinforce it.

In short, Matt Harvey is back.

Harvey was utterly dominant against the Yankees on Sunday, allowing only one hit in 5 2/3 innings with no walks and four strikeouts. He lowered his ERA for the Spring to 1.26, and extended his Grapefruit League streak to 9 2/3 scoreless frames with the effort.

Or, I should say it was “effortless.”

“I think we know that I can run it up if I need to,” Harvey said after the game. “But as far as the workload today and how things were going, I didn’t really feel like I needed to do that.”

Collins has no questions about Harvey at this point in camp, and believes his stuff is polished and ready for the season.

“He needs to build up his pitch count a little bit, but I would say stuff-wise he is ready for the regular season,” Collins said after the Mets 6-0 win over the Yankees on Sunday.

By the looks of it, that’s an understatement.

Harvey’s pitch limit on Sunday was about 70-75, but thanks to his incredible command, he needed only 59 to get 17 outs before was forced to end #HarveyDay and resume his bullpen auditions.

“I felt pretty good into the sixth inning and was commanding pretty much everything, so for that to be said I feel pretty good,” Harvey told reporters after his outing on Sunday.

Harvey was throwing his fastball in the mid-to-upper 90s, according to the radar gun on SNY. He also featured a devastating slider and curveball at times, and he was throwing his change-up between 87-88 mph as well. He schooled everyone who stepped into the batters box – it was a thing of beauty.

So many pitchers struggle the first year back from Tommy John Surgery. Not so much performance-wise but more in getting a feel for pitches again, getting used to the mound, re-establishing consistent command, and sustaining stamina and arm strength all while pitching under an innings limit. Typically, it’s the second year back the pitcher is able to reach his peak.

But in looking at Harvey, it doesn’t look like he’s missed a beat since he went down in August, 2013. He is in complete command of everything, just like he was when he went down 19 months ago. He is captivating, fascinating, and by the looks of it, he’s revolutionizing the art of pitching.

“We haven’t seen any change in command since he walked back on the mound so we’ve just got to build up his endurance a little bit,” Collins explained of Harvey.

I mean, he’s allowed one walk in 14 1/3 innings this spring. He’s allowed 11 hits and fanned 12. That leaves very few questions left about his recovery, and reaffirms Harvey is the exception to most pitching rules, even those who have a history of elbow problems.

It’s still early, and there’s a long way to go. He still hasn’t thrown a meaningful pitch in 19 months. Then again, maybe the 59 he threw on Sunday – along with the others in his previous three starts – had more meaning than we realize.

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, it’s amazing a guy with 12 wins in 36 big league starts can have this effect on a team, it’s fans and an industry. For a lot of reasons, both for the team and the game, it’s important this story remain positive.

You can listen to Harvey discuss his outing against the Yankees here…