NEW YORK — Steven Matz is set to make his major-league debut about 50 miles from home with a huge cheering section in the Citi Field stands.
No pressure, kid.
The latest — and perhaps last — in a line of highly touted young pitchers to come through the New York Mets’ farm system lately, Matz will be called up Sunday to start against the Cincinnati Reds after a very impressive half season with Triple-A Las Vegas.
“Not sure what’s going to go through my mind until it actually happens,” Matz said Saturday at a pregame news conference. “I’m really excited to be here. I’m going to kind of soak it in today, then go to go to work tomorrow and try to help them win some games.”
The 24-year-old lefty from Long Island was plucked by the Mets out of Ward Melville High School to some local fanfare in the second round of baseball’s 2009 draft. But his career got off to a slow start because of Tommy John surgery in May 2010, and Matz missed two full seasons before throwing his first professional pitch in 2012.
Once his arm was finally healthy, Matz took off like one of his 94 mph fastballs.
He went 2-0 for Single-A Savannah in the 2013 postseason, striking out 17 batters in 12 scoreless innings to lead the Sand Gnats to the South Atlantic League championship. Then he threw 7 hitless innings for Double-A Binghamton in the clinching game of the Eastern League’s 2014 championship series.
“I really didn’t realize how close I was at this point nine months ago,” he said.
Matz began this season at Las Vegas and posted more stingy numbers in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He went 7-4 with a 2.19 ERA and posted 94 strikeouts while allowing only 69 hits in 90 innings. He was leading the league in ERA, strikeouts and innings, and he was tied for first in wins.
Matz joins a solid Mets staff, and his arrival means the team will return to a six-man rotation to avoid overworking its young starters as their innings are managed.
Matz estimated he could have close to 100 family members and friends in attendance Sunday.
“I’m happy it’s at home,” Matz said. “My parents are really excited. My family’s really excited. I’ve got a pretty big family, so there’s going to be a lot of people here, that’s for sure. It’s going to be fun.”
