Ubaldo Jimenez and Matt Harvey. The two have more in common than you might think. At least, in the eyes of new Mets manager Mickey Callaway.
Callaway recently spoke to John Harper of the New York Daily News and said he’s seen what Harvey is going through before in the form of Jimenez and just needs to get him back on the right track.
“Matt is obviously a guy that’s had great success, and needs a little bit of direction right now,” Callaway said last week. “And I’ve been around a guy like that, Ubaldo Jimenez.
“It seems like a very similar case. You just get confused in what’s going on and you’re not sure how to right the ship. And it can be a very simple process.”
Jimenez has mostly been a journeyman type pitcher throughout his career, but under Callaway’s watch in 2013, he pitched to a 13-9 record with a 3.30 ERA. He hopes the same can be accomplished with Harvey.
It was a rough year in 2017 for the Mets right-hander, who pitched to a 5-7 record with a 6.70 ERA, 6.37 FIP, 1.694 WHIP and had a career low 6.5 K/9. Harvey was coming off surgery to relieve Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and also dealt with atrophy in his pitching shoulder.
His velocity was working its way back up towards the end of the season, but his pitches looked flat and hitters made him pay.
Super agent Scott Boras said last month that he is going to put a substantial throwing program in place for Harvey this winter at his southern California sports institute.
“Matt has been blessed with a lower half that is one of the strongest we have ever seen,” Boras told the New York Post. “He is an amazingly strong athlete. So, from our standpoint the clay is there to build the sculpture. His velocity is more than enough at 95 (mph) and he has a ceiling above that.
“This is about command and command does relate to conditioning and strength. What Matt went through with the TOS (thoracic outlet syndrome), he did not have the type of conditioning last offseason you do when you have normal health. He will have that chance this offseason.”
A dejected Matt Harvey was relieved when his hellish season came to a close, but now he is in his walk year and will have every opportunity to make the most of it before hitting the open market.
“Coming back from this process has been curveball, curveball of different feelings and different strengths,” Harvey said of the relatively unknown rehab from the surgery last month. “It’s new for a lot of people and something I tried to push through at times through pain and weakness. I think I just kind of put myself in a hole throughout that process.
“The positive is this nightmare of a season is over for me. I can look forward to a progressive offseason of getting everything back and making sure I am in good shape for spring training.”
I don’t take the Harvey comparison to Ubaldo Jimenez as a bad one. Jimenez was a promising young arm when he first came up and even finished third in the 2010 National League Cy Young voting.
The only difference is, Harvey is trying to work his way back from a very unpredictable surgery, on top of also having undergone Tommy John. I expect him to really work his rear end off this offseason to try and secure a nice deal for himself next winter, but it will be an uphill climb.
I think the tandem of Callaway and Dave Eiland is as good as anyone to try and get him on the right track, and hey, if he does have a similar season to that of Jimenez’s from 2013, that would be very good for a No. 3 starter.
I’m rooting for Harvey, I really am. I hope that he doesn’t mope about last season and instead gets angry and comes back with his fiery demeanor of old.
