The long recovery of Matt Harvey, and why that's a good thing

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – Five hundred ninety days. Matt Harvey ponders the time he's spent in the trainer's room, grinding through shoulder-strengthening exercises, stomaching all the other nonsense that comes with recovering from Tommy John surgery, and it comes back to that: When he steps on the mound at Nationals Park on opening day April 6, it will have been 590 days between major league pitches.

This seems like a lot because it is. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Doctors and trainers almost all agree that to get a true sense of a pitcher's recovery from an ulnar collateral ligament transplant takes 18 months. The tendon used to tie together a pitcher's elbow doesn't transform into a ligament until about that time. To rest the arm throughout the process is a blessing most don't get.

Whatever disappointment Harvey had in not returning last season has vanished. Eventually he recognized that he's one of the lucky few – the pitcher who gives his arm even more time to heal than the standard 12-month timetable – and that while no data exists to prove longer recoveries equal better results, enough experts agree on it to give him comfort.

"I was looking at a 17-month recovery, even if I didn't want it. And it was the best decision," Harvey said. "Going into a fresh season at 17, 18 months, I couldn't feel any better about it."

Neither could the Mets. The squabbles with Harvey over him wanting to return last season faded into an understanding that coming back at 11 months would do no good for either party, particularly in a lost season. His return now has enlivened the Mets, whose playoff aspirations are no longer apparitions. Manager Terry Collins called a recent curveball thrown by Harvey "stinking dynamite." Teammates will gather to watch him throw live batting practice Friday. All of it barrels toward the Mets' spring training opener and finally their season opener, both expected to go to Harvey.

It's easy to forget how good he was in 2013 when his season ended so abruptly. Harvey regularly touched 100 mph with his fastball, and his slider, curveball and changeup were above-average pitches, too. Only a handful of pitchers – Felix Hernandez and Clayton Kershaw among them – boast four such offerings. It's a heady comparison for a pitcher who will turn 26 years old before the season starts and have pitched the equivalent of one full season.

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Still, the Mets handled Harvey with the sort of caution being taken more and more across the game. Arizona wants to give Patrick Corbin almost 15 months before he returns. Jose Fernandez's targeted return date of June or July might be optimistic considering where he stands in his current progress. The rash of two-time Tommy John cases last season scared teams into slowing down the process, particularly with their most valued assets.

There isn't much precedent for long recovery times. Often the timing matters most, and Harvey's was perfect for the extra rest. He injured himself in late August 2013 and tried to rehabilitate the injury. It failed, as almost all partial-tear rehabs do, and he underwent surgery Oct. 22, 2013.

Four months later, he started throwing, as do most pitchers rehabbing from the surgery. And at 11 months, as the Mets' season wound to an end, he almost certainly could have thrown in the big leagues. Rushing him back wasn't going to help his 2015 season, though, and the perceived value of extra rest dawned on Harvey eventually.

It's more time for the arm to heal, more time to fix his mechanics, which he believes didn't need much tinkering. Harvey said he was landing on too straight a front leg as he landed, preferring to bend his knee slightly. After Tommy John, some pitchers take a full accounting of their delivery. Harvey figured he didn't need to change much, not with the results.

"As a pitcher, you do what works for you, what gets guys out," he said. "We're not like robots. We're not specifically looking at our mechanics for certain things. It's minor adjustments, and that's mostly to make sure your control is better or certain pitches work to the best of their abilities. It's not so much, 'Hey, if I don't do this, I'm gonna get hurt,' or 'I need to do this so I don't get hurt.' "

Until he starts mowing down hitters again, everything will focus on Harvey's elbow and in particular the tiny swath of flesh that holds it together. It's in optimum shape, holding up through him throwing bullpen sessions off a mound in the morning or playing a round of golf in the afternoon. The true test will be how it holds up when he puts it to work against hitters.

That's what he missed, what ate at him, what prompted the impatience and led to periodic discontent.

"Playing in New York especially, the energy, the electricity New York was giving me, why would I ever want to leave?" Harvey said. "And not to be able to get that for a whole year was really tough. I'm looking forward to being back.

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"It really feels like nothing happened. Picking up a baseball, it doesn't even come into my mind that something happened. I don't know if that's because it's been 17 months or it just feels so good."

He's almost 95 percent of the way there, just a few more weeks standing between him and games that matter. Harvey has bided his time for 552 days already. He can only hope it was worth the wait.

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