Mets ace Matt Harvey will not have Tommy John surgery and will try to rehab his injury. The righty will begin a 6-8 week throwing program, but Tommy John surgery has not been ruled out as a possibility Mets GM Sandy Alderson announced.
Harvey visited Tommy John expert Dr. James Andrews on Monday and was told he could proceed with rehab.
From Jon Heyman of CBS Sports:
The diagnosis apparently was positive enough that Harvey is expected to try rehab for now, then begin a throwing program in 1-2 months. Surgery remains a possibility, depending on how the rehab and throwing go.
Because his injury was suffered near the end of the season, Harvey has the luxury to attempt rehab before deciding on whether or not to receive surgery. The risk of starting rehab is that Harvey may feel he is healthy enough to start the season before potentially tearing his UCL, which would result in a completely lost year.
Before his injury, Harvey established himself as one of the top pitchers in all of baseball. He threw 178.1 inning with a 2.27 ERA and 191 strikes, establishing himself as a front runner for the Cy Young Award.