Watch: Mets ace Matt Harvey talks innings limit, postseason run
New York Mets righthander Matt Harvey talked with SI Now about the team’s postseason push and how an innings limit might factor in.
Harvey is pitching in his first season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in October 2013. Through 23 starts, he is 11–7 with a 2.57 ERA, 141 strikeouts and 32 walks over 154 innings.
The Mets entered Monday 63–55, 4 1/2 games ahead of the Washington Nationals in the NL East and in line for their first postseason appearance since 2006.
The Mets are closely monitoring Harvey’s innings count—as they are with two other top young pitchers, Jacob DeGrom and Noah Syndergaard—but have strayed from discussing a Stephen Strasburg-like shutdown for any as the season rolls on.
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After Harvey’s start against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 11—a 4–0 Mets win—manager Terry Collins said the team is “going to do everything in our power to keep from shutting this guy down. Any of these guys down.”
Speaking to SI Now’s Maggie Gray on Monday, Harvey said he is not taking any extra precautions with his surgically-repaired elbow, which “feels great.”
“Whatever they decide, it’s up to them. It’s up to the doctors to decide. My agent, Scott Boras, has obviously been talking to the doctors. I know [Mets general manager] Sandy Alderson has been talking to the doctors, and they’re trying to figure out a game plan of what to expect, what to do moving forward. I think the main thing as a player is to stay focused and stay within, like I said, start for start. They’re obviously going to decide the best plan moving forward and we’ll kind of see what happens.”