PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Exactly four months after having Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, Matt Harvey stood in the outfield grass at the Mets’ complex Saturday and tossed a baseball 20 times to the bullpen catcher Dave Racaniello about 60 feet away.

Fans lined chain-link fences to try to catch a glimpse. Members of the organization looked on, arms crossed. Jeremy Hefner, another Mets pitcher who had Tommy John surgery last year, watched intently. Jeff Wilpon, the Mets’ owner, chatted with Keith Hernandez, neither watching Harvey very closely.

When Harvey finished, he put his arm around Racaniello and smiled. It was both a momentous and an ordinary occasion. He had thrown for the first time since the operation. Yet he still had a long way to go.

“I felt very good,” Harvey told reporters while sitting in a dugout. “Kind of surprised, actually. Going into it, I didn’t really know what to expect.”