Beneath the soft-spoken, laid-back exterior, Steven Matz burns with a competitive fire. Competitive to the point that last season, the Mets’ first-year coaches challenged Matz to rein in his emotions on the mound.



The exercise paid off for the left-hander, who reached a career high in starts (30) and innings pitched (154) in his fourth year as a Met. You can hear the relief in his voice when he talks about hitting that 30-start marker and finding a groove he has carried into the offseason. For the first time since 2015, he’s working on his craft without an injury to nurse or surgery to rehab from.



“This is … the most excited I’ve been in an offseason,” Matz said in a phone interview this week. “You know, I normally don’t read any of the stuff, but I’ve just been checking my phone, seeing what’s going on, seeing who’s new, who’s where.”



It all has the Mets feeling hopeful that this...