Just Mets

Steven Matz has dominated the Pacific Coast League so far in 2015, going 6-3 with a 1.98 ERA in 11 appearances and ten starts in 68 1/3 innings.

Matz has thrown 100 pitches only twice in his 11 appearances this season, and under 80 in his last two starts, during which he has gone 1-1 despite allowing only one run in 12 innings.

There’s a reason the Mets are limiting the number of pitches Matz is throwing in his starts.

Like most young pitchers, Matz is on an innings limit of 170-180 innings this season. But the Mets are limiting his pitches and innings in the minor leagues so to be able to save some of his innings for the big leagues at some point this season, reports Mike Puma of the New York Post.

The Mets clearly have a plan for Matz this season. Maybe that’s to promote him for some spot starts among the current group in the six-man rotation, or maybe they hope to eventually replace somebody in the rotation with Matz at some point in the near-term.

They’re clearly keeping their cards close to the vest – given the abundance of starting pitchers here, it stands to reason why they wouldn’t want to let their plan leak out, especially if that means it will affect someone in their current rotation.

To read more about how the Mets could use Matz in the big league rotation, click here.