Matz set for debut on Sunday

Steven Matz is coming home.

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson announced Friday afternoon that the longawaited arrival of the Long Island native will come Sunday at Citi Field, when the highly coveted pitching prospect makes his major league debut against the Reds.

The 24yearold southpaw from Stony Brook had spent the entire season with TripleA Las Vegas, posting a 74 record while leading the league with a 2.19 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 90 ¹/₃ innings. He was not joining the team until the weekend.

“This kid’s very, very talented,” manager Terry Collins said before the Mets beat the Reds, 21. “I was there the day he showed up [at spring training] and you saw the arm and you said, ‘Wow, if he learns to command his stuff he’s going to be outstanding.’ Well he did.

“This kid might have so far put up the best numbers I’ve ever seen anyone pitch in that ballpark in Las Vegas.”

Matz, who was selected by the Mets in the second round of the 2009 MLB Draft, but missed all of the 201011 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, will not be on a strict pitch count in his debut, according to Collins, with Alderson noting the organization had been limiting his workload over the past month in preparation for his inser tion into the rotation.

“He’s going to be full out when he gets here,” Collins said. maybe adds some energy.”

Alderson admitted two weeks ago that Matz — who has posted a career 2.29 ERA in four seasons in the minor leagues — had nothing left to prove in Las Vegas, but the Mets wanted to be certain that the callup did not come prior to the cutoff for Super2 arbitration eligibility.

Matz’s promotion — which pushes Sunday’s scheduled starter, Jon Niese, to Tuesday, with the rotation resuming as is — also means the Mets will be returning to a sixman rotation.

This time, though, Alderson said, the sixman rotation will not account for offdays and will not skip starters, noting Matz’s callup was as much about his continued excellence as about limiting the innings of the team’s multiple 20somethingyearold starters.