Is Matt Harvey’s history making Major League debut for New York Mets sustainable? - Part 1
In his first Major League game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Matt Harvey scripts history. Striking-out 11 in his first appearance on the mound is an astounding achievement. What can ensue as a natural corollary of this are the high expectations ahead.
Given the fact that he has bagged a number of distinctions before even entering into the Majors, they are obvious.
While playing for various teams in the Minors, Harvey has always proven that he cannot be put aside when it comes to deciding who is going to replace Johan Santana and R.A. Dickey, two ageing starters for the New York Mets in their rotation.
Irrespective of what the General Manager and the manager holds about his experience, Harvey has gone through all what was needed for a pitcher to mould himself into a quality starter in the Majors.
He has spent time in the Single-A St. Lucie Mets, the Double-A Binghamton Mets and the Triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons, which means that all the challenges that the Minor League can impose on a pitcher have been conquered by him. His ability to be promoted
from one stage to another, states that convincing experts of the mastery he boasts as a hurler has not been a problem for him.
Not to forget, Harvey has featured in the 2011 future All-Star Game, all because of his incredible credentials as a starter and the distinction of drawing strike-outs on a consistent basis. His fastballs hover around mid 90s, which in light of the fact he
is still 23-years-old, can be improved to a great extent with some years into the Majors. It will be no surprise if he goes on to experience a Cole Hamels type of career down the line.
With the kind of pitching repertoire he has, if he learns as much as he can from the current season, he can prove to be as consistent next year in bringing wins as Hamels has been for the Philadelphia Phillies in the past half a decade.
If we dig into how Hamels has transformed into his present stature, we can find glaring similarities with Harvey, at least from the way both have kicked off their career.
Hamels was snubbed by the San Diego Padres in his initial periods. Despite showing interest earlier the Padres parted with their attention as they found the pitcher breaking his pitching arm.
That then led Phillies to acquire him. Similarly, the Los Angeles Angels did not seek for signing the contract even after they had chosen Harvey as part of the 2007 MLB Draft in the third round.
As we saw later in the years, Hamels leaped to great heights afterwards which culminated in the form of a six year contract extension worth $144 million that the Phillies accorded him.
For that matter, fans will love to see Harvey following suit and ending up becoming someone like Hamels for the Mets.
Far from trying to project that Harvey’s pitching skills match exactly with Hamels, there is a reason to believe that the former can turn out to be one of the new faces that can reinforce the notion of MLB’s being the only organisation in the world which
hosts the best talent of the game.
Sliders that Harvey can throw confirm that he has a great future ahead. Above all, the movements he can generate even while hurling 95 mph fastballs reeks of something new making its way into the game of baseball. Only thing he has to make sure is keeping
confidence in his ability. The moment he begins doubting that, he will become vulnerable by looking like a mediocre pitcher on the mound.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Continued in Part 2
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