It was a very impressive 2013 debut campaign for New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey. The Mets pitching staff thoroughly depends on Harvey performing well, especially with the loss of Johan Santana for the entire season and maybe the rest of his career.
It has been a long time coming for Harvey to officially silence all of his critics and show his true ability on the mound, and he did just that Wednesday night against the San Diego Padres.
Harvey did so by striking out 10 batters and only held the Padres to only one hit in seven innings pitched, leading the Mets to an 8-4 victory and making the Mets 2-0 so far this season.
There has been a lot of buzz going around in the Mets clubhouse describing Harvey as a very hard worker.
"This guy is one of the hardest-working guys I've ever seen. He's exactly what you want a young guy in the future of your organization to be like," said first baseman Ike Davis.
Harvey's strength is his two-seam and four-seam fastballs, which both sit between 93-97 mph range and both have a tremendous amount of movement. His strongest breaking pitch is his slider, which also has a lot of movement as well. His slider gets good rotation and tilt when thrown well, but it will occasionally flatten out.
Harvey's curve ball in high school was an overhand power curve that had plus potential, yet he doesn't throw it frequently because he favors the slider. Harvey's fourth option is the change-up, of which he has good command and is in the range of 80-85 mph. His change-up is considered an average pitch.
It is almost certain that Harvey is indeed the future of this Mets ball club and the future looks bright for him. He has superstar potential and just keeps getting better on each mound he visits. Last season in the big leagues, Harvey finished with a record of 3-5 in 10 games, accumulating 70 strikeouts in 59.1 innings pitched.
With that being said, Harvey surely will eventually be a strikeout machine once he gets comfortable and can stay healthy. I am not expecting a remarkable season just yet, but I do expect Harvey to fall in between 12-15 wins this season. Not great numbers, but above-average.
He does have a breakout season just waiting to happen, and when it does, the Mets organization will have it's future ace for many years to come.
