Steven Matz Working With Phil Regan in Port St. Lucie

According to Mike Mayer of Metsmerized, New York Mets left-hander Steven Matz has been training with former Mets pitching coach and longtime organizational fixture Phil Regan in Port St. Lucie, Florida this offseason.

After a disappointing 2020 season that included the southpaw being demoted from the rotation and putting up a 9.68 earned run average (7.76 FIP, 4.11 HR/9) over nine appearances (six starts; 30.2 innings), Matz is surely looking to regain his footing.

Under the tutelage of Regan, 83, in 2019 following the June firing of pitching coach Dave Eiland, Matz shone.

To be fair, Matz had been pitching well earlier in the season, owning a 3.38 ERA over four starts in May, but his inconsistency returned on cue with a 7.24 ERA over his first five starts of June. Then, all of a sudden, the tide changed.

From June 29 through July 27 (22 IP; six appearances, four starts) the Long Island product pitched to a 2.45 ERA with 18 strikeouts and two walks. From August 7 through September 11, Matz had a 1.94 ERA with 42 strikeouts, 13 walks, and a .644 OPS against over seven starts (41.2 IP).

Even with an ungodly 13 earned runs allowed over two consecutive September starts, Matz finished the second half of 2019 with a 3.52 ERA. A significant step forward for the homegrown — literally — talent.

With Regan out of the picture in 2020 — replaced by analytics guru and former MLB pitcher, Jeremy Hefner — but a head full of steam on Matz’s part, all parties involved were looking forward to another big stride from Matz this season. They got the extreme opposite desired result.

Matz working with Regan this offseason says two things:

The Mets still see potential in Steven Matz to fill out the back-end of their depleted rotation in 2021, and after enjoying arguably his most complete stretch as a major leaguer under Regan’s watch, Steven Matz could know working The Vulture could be his shortest path back to relevance in Flushing.