Frank Viola
MUSIC TO HIS EARS: Former Mets ace Frank Viola (inset), now a coach in their minor league system, showered praise on Matt Harvey (above), comparing the young right-hander’s demeanor to that of Roger Clemens. (Getty Images; George Napolitano/Brooklyn Cyclones (inset))
PORT ST. LUCIE — For the most part, the Mets have downplayed immediate expectations for Matt Harvey.
They’d like him to stay healthy and continue developing into a potential top of the rotation starter.
One of the few men in the organization who has been an ace is careful to toe the party line, but can’t help make the comparison that has come to his mind since he met the right-hander two years ago.
“Just the way he handles himself on the field, he’s like a young Roger Clemens,” Frank Viola said of the 23-year-old who made 10 starts for the Mets after being called up in 2012. “And I don’t mean stuff-wise, necessarily. But when he’s on the mound, you know he’s a professional. That’s how Roger was.”
Viola is heading into his second season as the pitching coach for the Mets’ Class-A affiliate in Savannah, Ga., and has spent nearly all his time during spring training on the back fields, working with the organization’s younger minor leaguers. Still, it’s Harvey who has made the biggest impression.
“On the field, you knew Roger was the man and he showed you why he was the man,” said Viola, who won 20 games for the Mets in 1990 and was Clemens’ teammate in Boston from 1992-94. “Matt’s the same way. Off the field, that’s a different story. I don’t know Matt’s personality very well, but when I got here, he stood out immediately and he’s set the precedent for what’s going on here.”
Harvey, along with Zack Wheeler, is the centerpiece of the Mets’ rebuilding project, but Viola pointed to other pitchers he has worked with as reasons for optimism.
“The pitching in the minor league system is like night and day from when I got here,” said Viola, who joined the staff of the Brooklyn Cyclones in 2011. “Guys like Domingo Tapia, [Jacob] DeGrom and Michael Fulmer all have a chance.”
Fulmer is expected to be sidelined for the next month or so after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus yesterday at the Hospital for Special Surgery.
But the best arms belong to Harvey — slated to start today against the Nationals in Viera — and Wheeler.
“I think the two of them as a combo could be fun to watch,” Viola said. “If they stay healthy, they can be the kind of guys who can put a rotation on their backs.”
And if the Mets are fortunate, they’ll have the same success Viola did.
“I’m here if they need me, but my time with them is here and gone,” said Viola, who was hit hard in his first two seasons in the majors before emerging as an 18-game winner when he was 24. “Plus, it took me a number of years to get to where someone like Harvey is. He’s way ahead of me from that standpoint. We’ll see where he winds up.”