With the team well out of contention, the New York Mets may place an innings limit on young starter Matt Harvey this season, reports the New York Post.
Harvey received a no-decision last night after pitching seven innings of three-hit ball against Washington while striking out 11 and walking none. His lone earned run came on an Ian Desmond home run. After the game, Mets manager Terry Collins was quoted by the Post as saying:
"As I said, we’ve got to start being careful here. [Harvey] has thrown a lot of pitches and a lot of games and gotten us deep into a lot of games. We’ve got to be careful that we don’t just let him loose and overuse him.’’
New York first called up Harvey in late July of 2012. Since then, the right-hander has been a full-time member of the rotation. He has also been their best starter over that span, with a 2.25 career ERA over his first 27 starts. This season, he leads the NL in ERA (2.00), WHIP (0.855) and strikeouts (132).
Harvey has also already thrown 117 innings in 2013, tied for the fourth most in MLB. The man he is tied with, CC Sabathia, is well-known as being a workhorse who can eat up a lot of innings.
Harvey, on the other hand, is poised to be the Mets ace for years to come. The Mets currently stand at 32-44, fourth in the NL East. With a postseason bid growing more unlikely by the day, New York will want to save Harvey's arm for when they do compete.
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