Halting Matt Harvey is NOT Safe

The Mets have slowed down Matt Harvey‘s rehab schedule, and have planned to shut him down completely at the end of the season. Their reasoning? The “cautionary tale” of Jeremy Hefner‘s setback. It’s illogical, and dangerous — quite the opposite of their supposed intention of keeping Harvey safe.

I’m not sure why everyone involved in baseball thinks that slowing down the rehab process is somehow safe, or will prevent reinjury. It’s not just with Harvey, it’s with a number of MLB pitchers coming back from injury — teams think it’s OK to go off the prescribed medical plan and do their own thing. It’s akin to tossing the map, GPS, and directions out the window and driving the car off the road and onto an uncharted trail. If you’re not going to follow directions, and go your own route, you’re doing so at your own risk, and you don’t know where you’ll wind up — nor what you might encounter.

Pitching motion expert Angel Borrelli explains the risks involved when going against a prescribed rehabilitation schedule in the most recent episode of The Fix:

If the above doesn’t play for you, you can try listening on BlogTalkRadio. You can also try downloading the episode and listening on your own software.