Last Saturday I wrote an article about the pitching woes of
the New York Mets since the All-Star break, highlighted by their ace Johan
Santana being sent to the DL after getting shelled in his last three
starts. I also mentioned that starter
Dillon Gee is likely out for the season, and that since the Mets starting
rotation is struggling so mightily, that it would not be long before they called up their prized pitching prospect Matt Harvey.
I claimed that if the 23-year-old Harvey continued his
stellar pitching for Triple-A Buffalo last Saturday, then I expected his next
start to be for the Mets. While I was
right in the notion that he was called up after Saturday’s start, by no means
did Harvey have a stellar outing. He picked
up the loss while surrendering 6 runs on 7 hits in only 5 innings pitched against
the Triple-A Charlotte Knights.
Regardless of this unsatisfactory outing, the Mets’ pitching
staff is currently struggling enough that New York is quickly falling out of
the National League wildcard race, so they will turn to their prized prospect
in a move of desperation. They hope that
the hard-throwing righty can help reverse the Mets’ rapid decline since the
All-Star break, during which they have dropped their last six games and eleven
of their last twelve games.
Harvey makes his MLB debut against the Arizona Diamondbacks
tonight at 9:40 pm EDT. He is matched up
against Arizona’s Wade Miley, who has 11 wins and a 3.02 ERA this season. With the Mets struggling and Miley pitching well,
Harvey is not necessarily in a great position to win his first big league
outing. But whether or not he can
impress the baseball world and win his first career start in the Majors, Harvey
is likely to have a great MLB career.
Read more after the jump...
The kid from Connecticut has copious amounts of potential
with a mid-90s fastball, a Major League slider, and a changeup that has been
gradually improving this season. He will
eventually become a very effective Major League pitcher later in his career. However as for right now, he would greatly benefit
from finishing out one more season in the minors instead of being called up to
pitch for a desperate Mets’ squad as a means of last resort.
Harvey is 7-5 for Buffalo this season with a 3.68 ERA. He has an impressive 112 strikeouts in 110
innings pitched. While Harvey’s numbers
are good, they do not scream MLB-ready, especially after he gave up six runs in
his most recent outing when he knew that the Mets would be closely
watching.
Another concern is that Harvey
is a righty who is not so great against right-handed batters, which could
ultimately result in disaster against hard-hitting big league hitters. Against righties, Harvey sports a
worrisome 4.45 ERA with only 42 strikeouts in 58.2 innings.
Meanwhile in seven less innings against lefties, Harvey is much more
dominant with 70 strikeouts and a 2.81 ERA.
If right-handed Triple-A batters can hit Harvey, then Major League
batters will too.
The kid has great stuff and tons of potential, but frankly he
is just not ready for the Majors. Harvey
would be much better off by earning his starting spot in the rotation during
next year’s spring training, rather than being called up at a desperate time
where the Mets can’t buy themselves a win, and Harvey will likely rack up some
losses for the dwindling club.
By promoting Harvey it is clear that the Mets are not yet ready
to pack it all in for the season, but they have now fallen to 7 games back from
a wildcard spot, and rushing their 23-year-old prospect to the Majors is
simply not the right answer for rejuvenating a struggling squad in their fading
hopes of attaining a playoff berth.
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