New York Mets set to get boost once more from Steven Matz

It’s been roughly two weeks since the New York Mets bolstered their rotation with yet another up-and-coming arm in the system with left-hander Steven Matz. Since that time, the southpaw picked up two wins in as many starts for the club and flashed some quality stuff. But he also injured his lat muscle and landed on the DL.

After making his third rehab start and first with Double-A Binghamton yesterday, it looks as though the first place Mets are set to have their already elite rotation bolstered once more by him. Matz went six innings for Binghamton, giving way to only one hit, walking none and striking out six. He did it all on the strength of only 56 pitches, too.

It’s fairly evident that the 24-year-old is playing well above the competition in Double-A. He’s scheduled to make one additional rehab start before rejoining the club in New York next week.

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The first place Mets are running away with the NL East crown right now. Few in the preseason figured the Washington Nationals would be de-throned, but the Mets’ staff of extremely talented arms has thrust New York into the spotlight as September now lingers around baseball’s regular season corner.

While Matz — a rookie — is still relatively green and is considered a prospect with only 13.2 big league innings under his belt, the left-hander has to be considered a bigger asset to the Mets at the moment over Bartolo Colon. New York overwhelms their competition on a nightly basis with Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard pitching. To a lesser extent, Jon Niese has done his job more often than not in the rotation, as well. If Matz can give the Mets similar innings to the first 13.2 he debuted with in late June and early July, his efforts should far exceed Colon’s in the rotation.

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Colon is 42 and other than being a stable veteran presence with postseason experience in the Mets’ clubhouse, he is facing the tail end of his long, well-documented career. Since the All-Star break, he is 1-4 with a 6.08 ERA. He has thrown over 58 innings in the playoffs, which is something no other current mainstay in the Mets’ rotation can lay claim to. For that reason, he could be useful in October, though it’s likely the Mets would go with a four or even three-man rotation in the postseason that would exclude Colon, 2015’s Opening Day Starter.

Matz would likely also pitch out of the bullpen for New York if they go onto win the East or capture a Wild Card spot. If he returns to his former level of play against MLB hitters though, it might be tough for manager Terry Collins to ignore his presence and not give him the ball in the first innings of postseason games. Either way, the first place Mets are cruising right now, and they’re about to get better if Matz makes it through his next minor league outing without hiccups.

Next: Mets' Class-A Sand Gnats tie longest MiLB win-streak in over a decade

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