What It Means:

"[Matz] looked very good," said manager Terry Collins. "He looked nice and easy." Matz is expected to throw around 50 pitches in Friday's start against the Philadelphia Phillies. A strained shoulder has held the 25-year-old left-hander out since August 14. Barring a sudden setback, Matz is expected to start against the Phillies on Friday in an outing that probably won't push beyond 50 pitches. The young left-hander has been on the shelf since the middle of August with a mild shoulder strain.

Matz is having a strong second season in the bigs, with a 3.51 SIERA, 23.6 percent strikeout rate and 5.7 percent walk rate through 22 starts -- all of which are improvements from his rookie numbers in 2015.