Most teams would trade half their farm system to have the kind of choices for his Opening Day starter that Terry Collins did. Noah Syndergaard, future best-pitcher-on-the-planet? No. Bartolo Colon, elder statesman among a gaggle of 20-somethings? No. Jacob deGrom, NLDS Game 1 starter last fall? Well, he could, but his wife is due to give birth soon.
Collins opted for Matt Harvey, who won the Comeback Player of the Year Award last season and who would be the undisputed ace of most rotations. Returning from Tommy John surgery last season, Harvey started 29 games and pitched 189 innings.
Even without deGrom's wife's pregnancy, Harvey would have made Collins' choice difficult. In addition to Harvey's strong performance last season, especially in the latter half, the right hander may have found the lights-out stuff he had in his rookie season.
The difference between his 2.27 ERA in 2013 and his 2.71 ERA in 2015 may have been his slider. Harvey admitted heading into spring training he could not throw the pitch consistently for most of the season, though it was his go-to pitch in 2013.
Collins has noticed the pitch is back and it may be having a larger effect on Harvey's repertoire.
"I am seeing stuff he didn't have last year. Late life, that last giddyup, better spin on the slider every time I see him throw in the bullpen," Collins said. "We talked about that Tommy John hangover, well there is something to that. This stuff is a little bit better this year. It was pretty good last year. Very excited to see the way Matt is throwing."
But deGrom's rookie season was the one Harvey missed and he started building his case to be the team's ace from the start. In 140 innings in 2014, deGrom posted a 2.69 ERA and improved to a 2.54 ERA in 191 innings last season.
Collins has not set the rest of his rotation because deGrom could have to leave the team at a moment's notice, but stressed the team has no problems with it. The current collective bargaining agreement allows players to take three days off for paternity leave.
"I have absolutely no issue with it. I think he should be there, absolutely he needs to be there," Collins said. "We can easily work around it. I had no issue when Daniel went on the paternity list. He needed to be there and we were just fine."
