NEW YORK -- Steven Matz commuted to Citi Field from his family’s Stony Brook, Long Island, home on his first day in a major league uniform on Saturday.
The 24-year-old southpaw does not plan to make a habit of that 50-mile trek as he settles into the rotation, beginning with Sunday’s scheduled major league debut for the New York Mets against the Cincinnati Reds.
“It’s a little bit of a ways,” Matz noted.
Matz, a graduate of Ward Melville High School, went 7-4 with a Pacific Coast League-best 2.19 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 90â…“ innings with Triple-A Las Vegas. He will wear No. 32.
His promotion completes the rotation renovation of a ballclub that he cheered while growing up on Long Island. He is the final piece in the influx of young pitching prospects to join the Mets rotation, along with Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. The full quintet will be on full display next summer once Wheeler returns from Tommy John surgery.
“I think it’s a great step forward for the organization to know that all these guys are up here now. Let’s teach them how to win games and watch them,” manager Terry Collins said. “Because they’re going to be really good.”
Said Matz: “It was really cool to watch those guys live up to their hype and transition from the minor leagues to the major leagues. I’m definitely going to pick their brains about it while I’m here and see if they can give me any tips about how they did it.”
Matz is particularly close to deGrom. The duo spent basically a full year together in 2011 at the Mets’ complex in Port St. Lucie, Florida, while rehabbing from their Tommy John surgeries. Because of setbacks during his recovery from the elbow procedure, Matz did not appear in an official minor league game until three years after he was drafted with the Mets’ top pick (72nd overall) in 2009. The Mets had forfeited their first-round pick that season for signing closer Francisco Rodriguez as a free agent. Wheeler, incidentally, was selected sixth overall in that same draft by the San Francisco Giants.
“We started hanging out, going fishing, and became pretty good friends from that,” deGrom recalled. “… I think he kept a good outlook and stuck with the program. And it worked out for him.”
Said Matz: “Neither of us had barely thrown. I think he had thrown a couple of innings. I didn’t throw a pitch yet. We became real good friends through that time. So it’s pretty cool that we’re both up here now.”
Although Matz grew up on Long Island and deGrom grew up in rural northern Florida, the two have similar personalities -- most notably being even-keeled.
“I’d say he’s kind of like me -- easygoing, but loves to compete,” deGrom said.
Matz will become the first Long Island high school product to debut in the majors with the Mets since Ray Searage (Deer Park High School) in 1981. Other Long Islanders to play for the Mets include Frank Viola (East Meadow High School), who served as Matz’s pitching coach this season with Las Vegas as well as during Matz’s first full season pitching in the minors, with Savannah in 2013.
Matz, who grew up a Mets fan, said he most vividly recalls Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. He was 15 years old and a sophomore at Ward Melville at the time.
“Growing up watching Endy Chavez make that catch over the wall is probably the most vibrant memory I have,” Matz said.
Although making his major league debut on the road might be simpler for him, Matz said he prefers that his debut is coming at Citi Field.
“I’m happy it’s at home. My parents are really excited,” Matz said. “My family is really excited. I’ve got a pretty big family. So there’s going to be a lot of people here, that’s for sure.”
