While the New York Mets fans haven’t had much to cheer about this year; pitcher Matt Harvey, in his first full season in the majors has been one of the team’s bright spots. However, that bright spot got a little dimmer on Monday with news that Harvey has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow according to an MRI taken Monday in New York.
Needless to say, the injury ends Harvey’s season and even has many saying that the 24-year-old will need Tommy John Surgery meaning he could be out of action for a full calendar year. However Harvey seems determined to avoid going under the knife.
“When I heard the news I was pretty shocked,” Harvey said. “I’m still very optimistic. I’m going to do everything I can so I don’t have to get surgery, whether it is strengthening areas in my shoulder and elbow, a lot of stretching and making sure I stay out of the doctor’s office.”
Harvey indicated that he had been a little sore the last three weeks, but only felt alarming pain during Saturday’s start with the Detroit Tigers.
The Mets have been extremely cautious with their young ace all year. They had him on a plan where he would be shut down once he pitched 200 innings this season (he is currently at 178 1/3) and they even gave him extra rest, skipping starts such as the one before the all-star game. Manager Terry Collins along with the Mets pitching coaches are certainly not to blame here. Collins indicated that Saturday was the first time they noticed any issues in Harvey’s game, and even then he still had his usual 95-97 MPH fastball.
“It’s not like the velocity was down,” Collins said. “I just didn’t see the crispness and stuff.”
General Manager Sandy Alderson also said that no decision has been made on surgery. However if surgery is undertaken, the team will have to make some other short term plans as Harvey was seen as the ace of the staff in 2013 as well.
“These are the kinds of things that happen in the game, and the successful teams respond to these setbacks,” general manager Sandy Alderson said. “That’s exactly what we have to do. This is not a career-ending injury under any stretch of the imagination. In terms of our timetable, it certainly will have an impact. We’re fortunate we have a lot of pitching depth in our organization.”
The number of pitchers who have avoided Tommy John surgery after even a partial tear of the UCL is few and far between. However Harvey doesn’t want to hear about the odds right now. Stating that he just wants to try the rehab route, while Alderson said the ultimate decision could be as much as a couple of months away. Still Harveys 2013 season is done and his 2014 season is very much in doubt.
Harvey has been brilliant this year, earning the All-Star Game start and has a 2.27 ERA (159 ERA+), 0.931 WHIP and 6.16 K/BB ratio this year. His 191 strikeouts (in 178 innings) leads the National League.
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