Matt Harvey To Undergo Tommy John Surgery, Miss All Of 2014
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — It seemed to be an inevitability.
Mets ace Matt Harvey will have surgery on a partially torn ligament in his right elbow, sidelining him for the 2014 season.
The 24-year-old right-hander will be operated on this month by Dr. James Andrews, the team said Friday. Projected recuperation for elbow ligament operations is about a year.
Harvey, the National League starter in the All-Star game, was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament on Aug. 26. He said at the time he wanted to try rehab and avoid surgery. The Mets said he did not plan to talk about his decision publicly until after the operation.
The No. 7 pick of the 2010 amateur draft, Harvey went 9-5 with a 2.27 ERA and 191 strikeouts in 178 1-3 innings this year. Since making his big league debut in July 2012, he is 12-10 with a 2.39 ERA and 261 strikeouts in 237 2-3 innings.
New York had counted on Harvey and Zack Wheeler, who made his debut this June, to form a 1-2 combination that would revitalize the team, which has not reached the playoffs since 2006 and not finished with a winning record since 2008.
Harvey spoke with Philadelphia pitcher Roy Halladay, who had a similar injury in 2006 but avoided surgery. Instead, he will follow the path of Washington ace Stephen Strasburg, who tore his ulnar collateral ligament in August 2010 and returned to the major leagues in September 2011.
"I believe if I can rehab, I'd rather bet on myself doing the work to stay out of getting surgery than having the surgery," Harvey said on Sept. 18.
But the Mets remained skeptical that the tear would heal on its own.
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