PORT ST. LUCIE — Johan Santana continues to shoulder a healthy workload without signs of regression.
Another step in the Mets ace’s recovery from left shoulder surgery came yesterday, when Santana simulated two innings of work. Overall, he threw 72 pitches. In the simulation phase, he threw 31 pitches, taking a breather between “innings” as if he were working a regular game.
Justin Turner and Omar Quintanilla took turns standing in the batter’s box, providing Santana with a strike zone.
“Today was a good day. I’m not trying to back off from anything,” Santana said. “I’m doing everything just the same way I would do it if I didn’t have surgery on my arm.
“I missed a few [pitches], but I’ve got to make adjustments and I’m pretty sure my next time will be better.”
Santana, who turns 33 next month, was in good spirits, joking throughout the session as pitching coach Dan Warthen called balls and strikes. At one point Santana yelled, “A beautiful pitch!”
Santana’s next big step figures to come Friday, when he is scheduled to throw batting practice to Mets’ hitters. If that exercise is successful, he will start a split-squad exhibition game against the Cardinals the following Tuesday.
Manager Terry Collins had originally slated Santana to pitch one inning in the Mets’ Grapefruit League opener next Monday against the Nationals, but the plan was changed to accommodate Santana an extra long-toss session.
Santana hasn’t faced major league hitters since tearing the anterior capsule in his left shoulder in September of 2010.
Collins said he has no reason to doubt Santana will be his Opening Day starter at Citi Field on April 5 against the Braves. Yesterday, the manager saw a pitcher confident in his physical skills.
“There’s that continued fluidity and it didn’t look like he was getting fatigued,” Collins said. “The third time through, his command with those hitters in the batter’s box was even better.
“And he admitted it, he said, ‘Wow, I haven’t had a guy in that batter’s box in a while.’ As long as he continues to grow, as long as his health continues to be maintained, it was a good day.”
Santana joked he pitched a no-hitter, but not a perfect game — he walked a batter. He said the real test will come when batters begin swinging against him.
“I want to see how my arm recovers from everything, that’s what I’m looking forward to,” he said. “Hitters are going to be aggressive and that’s the way it should be. I have to go through that to see how I compete and how I recover, and that’s what I’m looking for.”
Collins said Santana’s demeanor changed when a batter stepped in the box for the first time.
“When you get that batter in the batter’s box, all of a sudden it seems like that space gets smaller that you have to work in,” Collins said. “That’s why the command needs to be refined. When there’s nobody up there, it looks like the space is huge, and it’s just nice and easy. It’s all getting used to being back on the mound again.
“When he pitches next week in a game situation, now we’ll find out how much time he’s going to need to do it again, and when he does it again, we’ll see how he reacts from the first time. That’s where we’re going to start to tell what we’ve got.”