Matt Harrison Rehab Update

Apr 7, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers pitchers (L to R) Derek Holland, Matt Harrison and Yu Darvish watch play during the game against the Los Angeles Angels at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers beat the Angels 7-3. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Colby Lewis made it back to the big leagues last night and did fairly well, and that got me to wondering, how is Matt Harrison coming along? I then thought that all of you might be wondering the exact same thing, so I began doing some research. I thought I would share what I found out with all of you.

So far, Matt Harrison is not looking too bad in his minor rehab assignment. Matt has started two games and thrown 8.0 innings. In that time he has surrendered 9 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 3 walks and 5 strikeouts for a 3.38 ERA. As noted above, he was not very efficient on a cold night last night,  but he is pitching well overall. He does not seem to be overwhelming anyone in the media, but then again, when has Matt Harrison really overwhelmed the media with his pitching. He is what I would describe as a “blue-collar pitcher”, meaning that he just goes out there and get’s his job done every time he is called on.

Matt has a while to go before he gets to the majors, but with the success that Colby Lewis had (personally, not the team success last evening, which didn’t exist), and if Robbie Ross, Yu Darvish and Martin Perez can continue to have success, then it will be okay that Matt Harrison is still a couple of weeks away. I expect the Texas Rangers want to see Matt go over 100 pitches at least twice before they will be ready to call him up, and I expect that to happen in his next three starts. Then, I think Tanner Scheppers goes back to the bull pen and the Texas Rangers rotation and bull pen get that much better.