Generally highly touted prospects in Major League Baseball tend not to
work out as they cannot live up to the expectations. For every Alex
Rodriguez who was the first overall pick of The 1993 MLB Draft by The
Seattle Mariners, there are numerous prospects that were surrounded by
tremendous hoopla that do not make it to The Major Leagues. One
franchise that has seen their fair share of top prospects fizzle out are
The New York Mets. The Mets infamously had “Generation K” in the mid
90s consisting of pitchers Paul Wilson, Jason Isringhausen, and Bill
Pulsipher. The trio was compared to Nolan Ryan, Jerry Koosman, and Tom
Seaver before they even pitched in The Major Leagues. Isringhausen would
go on to become an All-Star closer with The Oakland Athletics and St.
Louis Cardinals while Wilson and Pulsipher combined to win 53 games. All
three pitchers were rushed to The Major Leagues by The Mets which
hindered their ability going forward. With that said it wasn’t
surprising that people were skeptical when The Mets recently called up
their 2010 first round pick Matt Harvey.
Harvey breezed through The Mets minor league system which even saw him
throw two shutout innings in The Triple-A All-Star Game last month.
Harvey started putting the doubt to bed when The Mets called him up on
July 26. Harvey only lasted 5.1 innings in his professional debut, but
he made his presence known when he struck out 11 Arizona Diamondback
batters. The 11 strikeout performance was only bested by Washington
Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg who struck out 14 batters against
The Pittsburgh Pirates in 2010 for a professional debut.
toe-to-toe with two-time National League Cy Young Award winner Tim
Lincecum. Harvey pitched six innings and gave up two earned runs. Harvey
also struck out seven batters while taking the loss, but he put the
rest of The NL on notice that he is hear to stay.
first two outings was the command and confidence that he displayed on
the mound. Harvey consistently dictated the pace by getting ahead of
batters. Harvey was regularly able to reach 97 miles per hour on his
fastball. To the untrained eye it would appear that Harvey was over
pitching from excitement, but he had control of his stuff on the mound.
Harvey has displayed confidence in his secondary pitchers such as his
slider, change-up, and cureveball. Harvey was also able to make the
transition from Rob Johnson to Josh Thole who is the everyday catcher
for The Mets.
many others have not seen a Met pitcher get called up in a long time
that had the total package like this in a very long time. Mike Pelfrey
was called up in 2006 by The Mets and he has never seemed to get it
fully figured out as he was also a first round pick like Harvey. Mets
general manager Sandy Alderson will continue to be cautious with Harvey
for the remainder of the season. Alderson was not willing to rush Harvey
from Triple-A, but The Mets were out of options on the pitching staff
after Johan Santana was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Somebody in
The Mets pitching rotation could be the modern day Wally Pipp.
It was imperative for The Mets to see what they have going forward with
Harvey. The Mets have not been eliminated from playoff contention, but
with The Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves distancing themselves
from the rest of the pack in The National League East, it is time for
The Mets to shape their 2013 roster. Harvey will be on an innings count
for the rest of the season, but he is indeed the future. Alderson is
using the right formula to build this team. You win with pitching,
therefore you start your team with pitching. Harvey is only the tip of
the iceberg as pitching prospect Zach Wheeler could be taking the field
in Flushing by next season. Barring injury Harvey should be a fixture on
The Mets staff.
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