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| NY Mets pitcher Matt Harvey making progress. Photo credit MLB |
In a rehab stint that that not always been so quiet and calm, Matt Harvey continues to make marked improvement as he continues to rehab from his Tommy John surgery. He made another step of in the right direction with increasing the distance he threw from, going from 90 feet to 120 feet. Its the first time in his rehabilitation program that Harvey has been able to expand his throwing distance.
by Michael Hanley
With this progress, the okay has been tentatively given for him to work off a mound for the first time on June 10th.It does not mean he will be on the fastrack to pitching this season for the Mets but it does the organization and its fans continued hope that he will be the pitcher he was before the surgery.
This process for Matt Harvey continues to be one that is gradual and methodical in its progress toward being 100% healthy. The good news is that there have been no setbacks so far and fingers crossed it stays that way as he continues to pass these checkmarks.
Understandably Harvey is eager to try and do more when it comes to his mechanics and doing more rigorous exercises with his arm. To his credit though he has not put any pressure to speed up the process and try to get back earlier than the organization and doctors want him back. Harvey continues to exercise patience and take a positive outlook on each step of this journey back to full strength.
The physical part of rehab is hugely important as any player who has gone through it will tell you but the mental aspect of it is something that is undervalued. When you take into account how much effort and discipline go into each day of rehab for these players, it can easily push them to a breaking point.That is when a strong mentality is needed when their body wants to give up, but there mind continues to push them and get through that exercise, etc. Its those type of days that can really empower and give further confidence in a player that they are on the comeback trail and will be able to be the player they were before injury or even better.
The Mets hope to get Harvey back to the player who was the ace of their staff last season up until his injury. He posted a very impressive season in which he logged 178.1 innings, going 9-5 with a 2.27 ERA, 191 strikeouts and only 31 walks, an astonishing strikeout to walk ratio for such a young pitcher. If Harvey returns back to form, New York will have gotten a little their ace back with the high quality pitches he has and gotten deeper when it comes to their young pitching depth. Already blessed with the likes of Zach Wheeler, Dillion Gee, Jon Niese and not to forget the highly regarded Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero and Jacob deGrom, adding Harey to the mix will fortify a very strong crop of starting pitchers the Mets can plug in as they see fit over the next couple of years into the starting rotation.
Though the journey back to being 100% is still something that Harvey will have to work on for resumability the rest of this season, it will be time well spent if he is able to return and stay healthy and be able to deliver high quality performances and all of wins for the Mets for the years to come..
