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Matz not taking his spot with Mets 'for granted'

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PORT ST. LUCIE — The difference is only 12 feet, but for Steven Matz it is a whole new world. The Mets lefthander walked into the spring training clubhouse earlier this month and saw his locker had moved. Now, the rookie is along the back wall at the end of a row that includes Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler.

And he wants to make sure he stays there.

“It’s different. At the same time, it almost gives you more drive,” Matz said of coming into camp as an expected member of one of the best rotations in baseball.

He looks over to the side where his locker was next to Syndergaard’s in 2015. This year, there are young pitchers housed there; young pitchers looking to make an impression like he and Syndergaard were last spring.

He remembers how much he wanted to earn his way into the big-league rotation and he knows those pitchers sitting there now feel the same way.

“There are other guys behind you (in the system), they are pushing and you see them working just as hard as you,” Matz said. “You could always lose your spot.

“I am not taking it for granted.”

The Mets are counting on that internal drive and motivation to keep their young rotation growing and improving. The expectations are huge outside the clubhouse with those young power-arms, but nothing compared to within that staff, Terry Collins said with a laugh.

“They push each other,” the Mets manager said. “They compete and want to keep up with each other. They push each other to keep getting better.”

On Thursday, Matz and Syndergaard got back into that competition, both throwing to live batters for the first time since the World Series. And they set the standard high.

“He was really good today,” catcher Travis d’Arnaud said of Matz. “He had really good fastball command for the first day with hitters. His changeup was down nice and low and his curveball was already working.”

Collins watched Syndergaard’s live batting practice session and noted the 23-year-old was raising the bar early for the rest of the staff by working on a cutter, a pitch he just started throwing at the very end of last season.

“This kid is coming so fast, it’s really remarkable what he’s done,” Collins said after watching Syndergaard throw to minor-league hitters on a back practice field. “He’s got some movement on his fastball, he can pitch inside and he is learning the cutter. He learns fast, so again, today in batting practice, he already had great movement, great movement on his fastball and his changeup. It was pretty impressive.”

The cutter is something Syndergaard picked up last season watching Harvey and deGrom and working with pitching coach Dan Warthen. He is still trying to perfect it and get better.

“It’s a cutter or slider, depending on what day it is,” Syndergaard said with a laugh. “I started toying with it a little bit last year and during the World Series I started to throw it more and it clicked somehow.

“It really helps me and was part of my success in Game 3 (of the World Series).”

Syndergaard seemed to be still riding the wave of his 2015 rookie season.

“I went so much farther than I ever have in any other season, but my body didn’t really break down or lose muscle memory when it came to my mechanics, my body feels good,” Syndergaard said. “Everything is working today. I kind of shocked myself with how good I feel this early in spring training. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep it up and have an exciting 2016.”

Down the row of lockers, Matz was hoping to put together an official rookie season that compared to Syndergaard’s. After missing just over two months with a partially torn left lat muscle in 2015, Matz impressed with his talent but has just six regular-season, major-league starts and three in the postseason to his resume.

He knows he has to build on that.

“Now, I’ve got a year under my belt, or a couple starts under my belt, I feel a lot more comfortable coming into camp,” Matz said. “It feels great to be a part of this rotation and I really want to build off what I did last year and what we did as a staff.”

Thursday, facing batters for the first time this year, the Mets’ young staff took those first steps to competing again.

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