Matt Harvey’s line of duty in 2012 has come to an end following a strong outing a couple of nights ago against the Philadelphia Phillies.
It’s hard to complain about Harvey’s performance in his rookie season. In fact, he was one of the Mets’ few bright spots in the second half.
In the majors, Harvey is 3-5 in 10 starts with a 2.73 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 70 strikeouts in 59.1 innings.
Harvey’s stats alone tell you a story about the pitcher.
Despite a small amount of starts, only three wins for Harvey is an absolute sin with that ERA. Harvey may as well have eight wins with all the good starts he’s had. He had only pitched two bad games. The mediocre Mets offense, though, deprived him of the extra wins.
The most obvious thing we’ve learned about Harvey this season is that he’s a strikeout machine; seventy in 59.1 innings is great. He has an explosive fastball that he can mix speeds with from the low to high 90s. His curveball, changeup and especially wicked slider make up a fearsome repertoire.
His first start in Arizona sort of set the table for the story of his season. Harvey pitched 5.1 innings, didn’t allow a run and struck out 11. He won’t go deep into ballgames just yet, but he’s a strikeout king who doesn’t have trouble turning the lineup over. The only difference is that Harvey actually picked up a win in that game, the first in his promising career.
Now that I’ve made three big paragraphs of raving, it’s time for critique. He can still use some work on his command. Once he finds complete and consistent control, Harvey will be a deadly pitcher. It will also help with the next thing he needs to improve on.
Harvey finding his control will help him go deeper into ballgames, as I touched upon before. Especially if it means fewer innings for the struggling bullpen. Harvey will give himself a much better shot at wins if he can go deeper into games. He hit seven innings twice in his 10 starts.
But overall, I could not be more pleased with Harvey’s first season in the majors. We should all look forward to his first full season next year.
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