Kevin Kernan of the New York Daily News reports that Matt Harvey is likely to make his regular season debut on April 9 in Washington against the Nationals. That’s the Mets’ third game of the season.
Obviously that all assumes that Harvey’s spring goes well. As reported the other day, Harvey will make his spring game debut on Friday.
Harvey’s workload is expected to be closely monitored and somewhat limited in his first season back from Tommy John surgery, but it will be done in a less heavy-handed fashion than, say, Stephen Strasburg’s work was limited a couple of years ago. Rather than a hard cutoff, the Mets plan to skip starts and limit innings in specific starts so that he can be available all season long and, if necessary, the playoffs.
Harvey, 25, owns a 2.39 ERA and 261/57 K/BB ratio in 237 2/3 innings over his first 36 starts in the majors.