After pitching at times through what has been described by sources as "excruciating" pain, Mets left-hander Steven Matz will undergo season-ending surgery to reposition the irritated ulnar nerve in his left elbow, the Mets announced Monday.
Not until an exam Monday with team physician Dr. David Altchek was it revealed that a problem with Matz's ulnar nerve had caused the persistent pain. It's the same injury that last year forced Jacob deGrom to undergo season-ending surgery. Since then, deGrom has bounced back to turn in a stellar season, an encouraging sign as Matz heads for surgery.
Altchek recommended surgery, which will be scheduled in the next several days, ending what has been a painful season for the 26-year-old left-hander.
Earlier, Terry Collins said Matz likely would be scratched from his scheduled start Tuesday night, and that he could be headed to the disabled list. But the manager offered vague and contradictory answers about the nature of the problem.
Collins conceded that Matz's arm had been bothering him and had impacted his performance, but stopped short of saying he was injured, apparently unaware of the diagnosis.
"This is not an injury, this not an injury," Collins said. "It's just an issue of he needs to shut it down for a little while ... If he had to, he could pitch tomorrow. We're going to probably put him on the DL."
The painful nerve problem may explain an uncharacteristically poor season for Matz (2-7), who hasn't won since June 28 while watching his ERA spike to 6.08, the highest of his career.
Previous exams showed no structural damage to his left elbow, and this latest round of tests confirmed those results. They revealed no damage to his ligament or tendon, just a nerve condition that Matz wanted to power through, perhaps in defiance of a reputation he's gained for being injured often.
A source said Matz even consented to multiple pain-killing injections _ sometimes on game days _ to quell the pain that came along with an elbow that swelled to the size of a grapefruit. The pain would come and go.
Publicly, Matz refused to acknowledge any health issue despite clear signs of a problem.
For instance, sources said Matz has been abbreviating bullpen sessions between starts at points this season _ or skipping them altogether at times _ all to avoid placing extra stress on his painful elbow. Matz insisted that nothing had physically inhibited him from throwing as usual, and that he was simply experimenting with his routine in an effort to turn around a horrific season.
The Mets went along as well, despite performances that signaled the potential for an underlying problem. One source described a belief that Matz was learning to get over a "mental hurdle" by pitching through pain, which has been a constant theme throughout his career.
Not long after he was drafted in the second round in 2009, Matz underwent Tommy John surgery and endured a rocky rehab, which delayed his development.
Another recent example came in spring training, when the Mets sent Matz to the DL with elbow inflammation although he said he was battling a strained flexor tendon. Nevertheless, Matz returned in June with some initial success, though his results would worsen.
On Monday, Collins repeated his effort to keep Matz from throwing his slider, a pitch the manager said has caused discomfort. Through his first three starts, Matz stayed away from the pitch, though he eventually resumed throwing it.
"I'm sure that some of the issues have kept him from being the kind of pitcher that we know he can be," Collins said, making a vague reference to Matz's troubles.
Collins said that left-hander Tommy Milone, fresh off the DL with a knee injury, will likely start for the Mets on Tuesday.
