Mets have interest in Steven Matz

The Mets have interest in bringing back left-handed starting pitcher Steven Matz, according to Jon Heyman. Matz spent the 2021 season with the Blue Jays after the Mets traded him there back in late January this year.

Before the trade, Matz had spent his entire professional career in the Mets’ organization. The team drafted him in the second round of the amateur draft back in 2009, and thanks in large part to injuries, he didn’t make his major league debut until 2015. When healthy, Matz combined for a 3.16 in his first 28 major league starts with the team.

From 2017 through 2020, health and performance were issues at times. Matz had a 6.08 ERA in 2017, though he only made 13 starts that year. And while he racked up 314.1 innings across the 2018 and 2019 seasons, he still had a modest 4.09 ERA. And in the pandemic-shortened season in 2020, Matz was truly terrible, posting a 9.68 ERA in 30.2 innings.

With the Blue Jays this season, Matz rebounded nicely, finishing the year with a 3.82 ERA in 150.2 innings that was pretty much in line with how he pitched in his most recent pair of full seasons. Heyman notes that the Blue Jays are one of the other teams interested in Matz, and while it would be unfair to expect him to reclaim his ace-like performance from his first couple of years in the big leagues, he at least righted the ship in 2021 and could be a cromulent part of a major league rotation.