MLB

Gee out to prove value on hill

PORT ST. LUCIE — Once the fear his life might be in jeopardy had subsided and an artery had been relocated to his right shoulder to repair the damage, Dillon Gee started considering the idea he might have lost his opportunity to stick with the Mets.

This was last July, after a blood clot in the shoulder had ended his season. The numbness in Gee’s right hand that sent him to doctors in the first place was gone, replaced by a burning in his gut, stemming from the potential opportunity lost.

“What happened to me was just bad luck, I guess,” Gee said yesterday at the Mets spring training complex. “Getting passed by and losing my job, you think about it, but at the same time I’m pretty confident in how I pitch and have shown I deserve to be in the big leagues.”

The Mets agreed, penciling the 26-year-old Gee into their 2013 plans even before last season concluded. Gee arrived at camp this month with a job already his, in a rotation that includes Johan Santana, Matt Harvey, Jon Niese and new acquisition Shaun Marcum.

All the Mets want to see is the same Gee who was rolling heading into the All-Star break, before the surgery claimed the rest of his season.

Gee posted a 2.99 ERA over his final 10 starts of the year, rebounding from early struggles. He finished 6-7 with a 4.10 ERA over 109 2/3 innings, with 97 strikeouts and 29 walks.

“I thought he had more bad luck than any pitcher on our staff last year and could have had a lower ERA even in his [early] games,” pitching coach Dan Warthen said. “He could have won a couple of more games. Fortunately, I think Dillon is going to come in throwing the baseball the way he ended up throwing last year, and I look for a solid year.”

PHOTOS: METS SPRING TRAINING

Gee had a strong start to the 2011 season and faded in the second half, which he attributes to a lack of conditioning. Last year he was hoping to prove he had the stamina to endure an entire season, but the blood clot ruined that pursuit.

After undergoing surgery that involved removing an artery from his groin and moving it to his shoulder, Gee was assured by doctors there is little chance the blood clot will return. The right-hander said the clot was a byproduct of throwing a baseball for so many years.

“The doctors say they see it in overhead athletes like swimmers, volleyball players and pitchers,” said Gee, who experienced pronounced numbness in his hand and arm following a July 7 start against the Cubs at Citi Field.

“It’s not fun having a catheter shoved up your groin through your heart and out through your arm. But once it was done the recovery was very minimal because there wasn’t a whole lot they messed with in there except for the artery.”

As somebody who doesn’t have the fireballer Harvey’s potential or a big contract, Gee could be most at risk of losing a job once top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler is deemed ready.

That will put pressure on Gee, probably more so than the other members of the rotation, to avoid an early slump.

“Obviously Wheeler is a great pitcher and he’s going to be in the big leagues, that is just the way the game is,” Gee said. “He deserves to be in the big leagues if he’s pitching well, so it might affect me, but I can’t let it affect me mentally, because I have a job to do. If I do my job well, I’ll find a place somewhere.”