Matt Harvey underwent surgery to address his Thoracic Outlet Syndrome today in St. Louis performed by Dr. Thompson, reports ESPN’s Adam Rubin. Harvey, agent Scott Boras says, will have about a six-month recovery time, putting him in line to begin spring training next year on time.
Harvey has been out for a few weeks now due to TOS, which involves the compression of nerves and blood vessels in the shoulder area. It is often treated by removing a patient’s rib, although no details on Harvey’s procedure have been released.
Harvey really struggled this season, posting a 4.86 ERA (up from 2.71 in 2015) in 92.2 innings. He watched his strikeout rate drop from 8.94 to 7.38 and walk rate rise from 1.76 to 2.46. His left on base percentage — which measures the amount of runners on base he strands — has dropped from 78.7 percent to 65.2 percent this year. His fastball, curveball, and changeup velocity have also dropped about a mile per hour compared to last year.
Beyond the Box Score looked through the cases of TOS in MLB pitchers last year, and found some pretty discouraging results. They found that most pitchers saw decreased velocity and command after the surgery.
