JUPITER , Fla. — This Generation K will be okay.
Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard represent Generation K2 for the Mets.
“This is nothing against Stephen Strasburg,’’ a prominent scout told The Post Wednesday, “but I like Harvey, Wheeler and Syndergaard each better than I do Strasburg. That’s three No. 1s the Mets have there.’’
Powerful words.
It’s all about staying healthy, and no one knows that better than one of the members of the original Generation K, Jason Isringhausen. The other two pitchers were Paul Wilson, the first overall pick of the 1994 draft, and left-hander Bill Pulsipher.
All three were crushed by injuries and wound up winning only 31 games (21 by Isringhausen) for the Mets.
A pitching dynasty dissolved into thin air. Only the nickname survived.
Isringhausen is now working with the Cardinals as a guest coach. After a slew of injuries with the Mets, he found gold with the A’s and Cardinals as a closer, registering 300 saves over his 16-year career. He believes Generation K2 has a better chance at success than his Generation K even though Harvey is already on the shelf after Tommy John surgery.
“This brings a resemblance to people that I once knew,’’ Isringhausen said at Roger Dean Stadium of Harvey, Wheeler and Syndergaard. “Three guys coming up, there’s a lot of expectation, but with us, there were a lot of injuries. So hopefully these kids stay injury-free and they are able to pitch for 20 years. That would be great. That’s what everybody wants. The reality is you got to take care of these kids.’’
This is the generation of pitchers the Mets have been waiting for since 1995, when Isringhausen came to the majors and went 9-2.
Times have changed, and that is working in Generation K2’s favor.
“Nowadays, they do a lot better job of taking care of the young kids with their pitch counts and innings pitched,’’ Isringhausen said. “You draft a kid out of college now and he doesn’t pitch at all. They let him sit for a year and recuperate.’’
When Wilson came out of Florida State, he pitched 49 ¹/₃ innings for the Mets in the minors, and the next minor-league season fired 186 ²/₃ innings. In 1994 Isringhausen threw 193 ¹/₃ minor-league innings.
Those days are gone. Syndergaard will be on an innings limit this season.
“You only have one arm,’’ Isringhausen said. “You can only put so many spare parts in an arm. So they really have to watch how many innings they use them in the minor leagues and in the big leagues.
“Our job was to go out there and throw nine innings, it didn’t matter if it took 90 pitches or 140,’’ Isringhausen said of climbing the minor-league ladder. “If we didn’t throw nine innings, it was a bad start. But we thrived on that and we competed with each other.’’
Isringhausen said he’s pulling for this Generation K to be healthy and then let the chips fall where they may.
“I don’t want them to fail because they are hurt,’’ Isringhausen said.
Isringhausen said the Generation K nickname never added any extra pressure.
“We had fun with it,’’ Isringhausen said. “We were young and dumb. We didn’t put any pressure on ourselves because in our minds, we knew we were good.
“I think these guys feel the same way, and I think the Mets have done a great job of spacing out their innings and things like that.’’
Despite that protection, injuries happen. Look at Harvey.
“You can’t project what will happen, it’s kind of flip a coin,’’ Isringhausen said. “But now Harvey has a new elbow and from the studies they do, they say that new elbow will last 10 years.
“They can call them anything they want,’’ Isringhausen said, surrendering the rights to the nickname and rooting for this generation. “I just hope they have success. They can be Generation K, that would be great.’’
Expect the second time around to be a charm for Generation K.