PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Matt Harvey will start on Opening Day after all. Mets doctors diagnosed Harvey with a blood clot in his bladder, which he passed on Monday without issue. Harvey returned to Mets camp on Tuesday with an eye toward imminently resuming baseball activities.
"Everything feels great," Harvey said. "I feel relieved that everything's clear and good to go."
Harvey first felt discomfort while urinating on Sunday, with increased pain during the night. He reported his symptoms to the team's training staff the following morning, passing the blood clot later that day. When Harvey underwent further testing on Tuesday, everything came back clear.
"I didn't really know what was going on," Harvey said. "I was having trouble using the restroom, and obviously any time there's discoloration in your urine, it's not a great feeling. So I didn't know what was going on with my stomach. But we had some tests yesterday and everything's fine now."
The issue, Harvey said, stemmed from his habit of holding in his urine too long, which caused an infection in his bladder. He plans to "retrain" himself to take more frequent bathroom breaks in the future.
Harvey also scolded those who speculated on his condition after the Mets revealed that something was amiss on Monday afternoon and scratched him from his scheduled start, leading to a question as to whether he would make his season-opening start in Kansas City on Sunday night.
"People didn't know what was going on, so reading some pretty nasty things about what it might be isn't very nice," Harvey said. "But I'm glad we figured it out."
Because the Mets scratched him from what would have been his final Grapefruit League tuneup Tuesday against the Marlins, Harvey could appear for an abbreviated outing Wednesday in advance of Opening Night.
In either case, his availability for Sunday in Kansas City is a relief for a Mets team that would have been scrambling to make contingency plans had he been unable to pitch. As the rotation is currently set, Harvey is scheduled to open the Mets' season, with Noah Syndergaard set to pitch in their second game. Steven Matz and Bartolo Colon might both be available out of the bullpen in Kansas City.