MORE LIKE IT HARV!

expectations of the past. He doesn’t have to be the Dark Knight again, Callaway has said repeatedly. Tuesday, Callaway was happy with the Harvey he saw. “He has really good command. He’s getting ahead. His changeup has been a plus changeup and his slider has been really good,” Callaway said. “I didn’t know a ton about his offspeed pitches before I came here, but those are showing above average for me right now. Especially when he’s throwing his fastball where he wants to like he’s been doing.” After two major surgeries (Tommy John and having a rib removed to address the TOS), Harvey isn’t looking for a return to anything. He’s moving on with who he USA TODAY is now. “This is a completely new year,” Harvey said, when asked to compare himself to his past self. “I was really happy with the start today and definitely ready to go and head up north.”

And now Harvey will break camp likely scheduled to start fourth in the rotation.

Harvey and pitching coach Dave Eiland said it was safe to assume he will not pitch in that opening series. The Mets face the Cardinals three times in the final four games of spring and then open the season with them. They will keep their pitchers scheduled to pitch in that series out of these games. dam Wainwright, who is scheduled to pitch against the Mets at Citi Field next week, pitched on the backfields against minor leaguers, as did the Mets’ top relievers Tuesday. “It’s kind of weird. You are going to see some weird stuff when we play them next time,” Callaway said. “The schedule is what the schedule is, we have to make sure we don’t tip our hand or do anything silly and tip our hand. I don’t know, it’s not ideal, but we’ll get guys ready.” So Tuesday, Harvey made his final tuneup and felt ready. He was happy with his ability to ramp up the velocity when needed and pull back with really good changeups. The slider may not be what it used to be, but like this latest version of Harvey, it’s good enough for the Mets rotation to be very competitive.

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