17
2012
Harvey Had Best Start Of Young Career Last Night, And I Know Why
An article by 
Matt Harvey was nothing short of spectacular last night. There was something different about last night’s start that was the key to his success. Did anyone else pick up on it?
Answer: He only threw three change-ups the entire night.
I’ve been arguing that this kid has been throwing too many change-ups in his starts since his electric debut in Arizona. It seemed like he was forcing the change-up in his past couple of starts, and definitely moved away from that last night. Maybe he has been reading my posts here on MMO lately?
As they say, the proof is in the pudding. In the two starts that Harvey threw fewer change-ups he dominated hitters. Forget about the change-up Matty…give ‘em the heater!
His bread and butter pitches are the fastball and slider – that is what he has to stick with for the remainder of the season. The Mets should be working on building Harvey’s confidence, not working new pitch into his repertoire. The way to do that is focus on what got him here, and work on any additional pitches in the off-season.
How this kid performs over the next month can arguably set the stage for his entire career. The focus for the rest of the 2012 season should be laying a foundation for Harvey to build on going into 2013. It was very nice to see Harvey back to dominating hitters last night. The way he used his change-up last night is the way he should continue to use it the rest of the year – sparingly to keep hitters off balance. The more you throw the change-up, the less of a “change-up” it actually is.
Now that I have fixed Harvey’s pitching woes I’m going to work on the bullpen issues. Dan Warthen better watch out…I’m coming for him. 
About the Author: Mitch Petanick
Mitch is currently an Editor and Minor League Analyst for Mets Merized Online. His baseball experience includes being a former All-Conference collegiate baseball player who had numerous professional tryouts, and he is currently a hitting instructor. He has been involved with the game of baseball for over 30 years now as a player, coach, and consultant. Mitch is also a former Featured Columnist on Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @FirstPitchMitch.
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STUD!!!!!!
I agree, but the real question is are you feeling ok this morning?
I have two points.
1. Even though you don’t portray yourself as a Pitching Analyst, your analysis is logical and more to the point than Baron over at Metsblog.
2. Dan Warthen is a terrible pitching coach and needs to go. The first thing he does with a new pitcher is get them to change what got them to the majors in the first place. He does it all the time. He’s a detriment to this team.
I don’t know how great Harvey will be. There has always been a difference of opinion by the experts as to whether he’s an ace or a number three. So far his inconsistency says smack in the middle which would be number two. I’ll take that every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
You know what the real difference is between a #1 and #3 starter?
The team you play for and the pitchers that are in the rotation around you…
Has nothing to do with the Pitcher itself!
Put a guy like Cliff Lee next to Roy Halladay is Cliff Lee really a #2 pitcher?
Would he be a #2 pitcher anywhere else?
People last week said Niese was a #3 pitcher…
Would he be the #3 guy in Colorado? Hell no he would be thier ace!
So we need to stop trying to judge individual pitchers by using rotation alignment because the truth is the guys around him determine his spot in the rotation not the player himself!
Ag
Sorry, that was supposed to say agree.
LOL I kind of guessed even before you clarified!
Where you pitch in the rotation is irrelevant the second the season starts!
It’s a status that has no value other than pride!
Anyone who thinks a guy is good enough to be a #3 or #4 pitcher really is just making an excuse to get a pitcher they don’t think is really any good!
I.E. He’s “good enough” to be a 4th starter!
Really? Thats no way to fill out your rotation!
I’m starting to see the coaches maybe realize that HOW they tell guys to do what they want them to is maybe more important than what they are trying to convey…
Part of Harvey’s overuse of the Changeup came directly from the mouths of Terry Collins and Dan Warthen when they complained that Harvey didn’t use his changeup enough!
SO he did what they wanted and he had problems!
We have debated the passivity of this lineup and debated what it means to be patient at the plate yet here we are 6 months later and we still see PASSIVE not PATIENCE at the plate.
Terry said the other day that the Players seem to be missing the point they have been making about Plate Discipline and it doesn’t mean talking balls but “waiting for a pitch you can hit.”
WAITING is why they have failed to get the message accross!
If you tell someone to wait for your pitch well the active VERB in that sentence is WAIT!
What will they do? They will WAIT, Take strikes and find themselves in the hole late in the PA.
What should be told to them is to LOOK for your pitch to hit. That may come on the very first pitch and if your waiting you might not recognize it when it comes.
Sun Tzu had something to say about this:
“If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, then the general is to blame.”
Regarding Harvey they clarified what they meant by using his Changeup more. They didn’t MEAN for him to use it more regularly just to remember to use it at all!
And he should use all of this pitches but that doesn’t mean you use your secondary weapons more than your more effective primary weapons.
This message was not clear when they all griped about how little he was using his Changeup a week or two ago a young impressionable kid who is looking to do anything he is told to please his coaches and stay in the MLB and take what is said quite literally, and it is why he had the troubles he had until last night!
He did precisely what they told him to do just as the Batter did what they were told and it wasn’t that they misinterpreted what was said it’s that what was said did not actually clearly reflect what it is the coaches wanted!
Anyone who has taken a course on personnel management knows that your orders in most cases will be followed to the letter and the letters in the order must be clearly in line with what you are trying to convey.
If they are not you will get the literal implementation of the order and not what you meant to get by giving the unclear order.
Words have meaning and are important. We tend to forget that in this country especially in this day and age of Tweeting and Txt Messages where every phrase is a shortcut version of English.
But when you take shortcuts in communication what usually happens is the message falls short as well, the meaning is short changed and what you get is not what you wanted to get accross!
Good teachers say what they mean and they choose thier words carefully to be sure what they mean is represented by the words they use.
That hasn’t happened here!
Thankfully they clarified it for Harvey, lets hope they clarify it for the batter soon too before they develop too many bad habits.
WAITING is why they have failed to get the message accross!
If you tell someone to wait for your pitch well the active VERB in that sentence is WAIT!
What will they do? They will WAIT, Take strikes and find themselves in the hole late in the PA.
To your point, it’s a terrible strategy. Any starting pitcher does his homework before a start and that includes knowing the hitters he will be facing. Knowing what there hot zones are and what pitches they thrive on.
A good pitcher will never throw the hitter the pitch he is waiting for because he should know before hand not to throw it. The hitter in turn can only hope for a mistake pitch which often never comes.
CORRECT!
It really comes down to if your looking for A Pitch to hit (regardless if it’s the one you like to hit the most) you will usually find what you look for!
If you wait and unsure you might wait too long and miss what it was you were waiting for and miss your opportunity.
Pitchers can’t be perfect every pitch and they do know where you like to hit the ball enough to avoid that area.
But they still have to get the ball there and while a pitch belt high and away might be right in your favorite pitch zone and pitch low and away is just as hittable and if your looking for something in that general area (in this case away) you can hit the one just outside of your favored zone.
The issue is that most pitchers will attack you on the first two pitches.
They want to get that first strike before they start to play close to the edge of the strikezone.
The best pitches to hit come on pitches 1, 2 and 3!
By then either he is ahead in the count (because you didn’t attack the strikes he threw) or behind (because he missed)
All strikes should be hittable provided your prepared to swing at them.
But if your waiting for a certain type of strike then they will simply get you out with all those other strikes your not looking for!
THIS!!!!
The breaker was working nicely, too. Mitch. His fb looked so good that his 93 MPH was every bit as good if not better than his 97 MPH. It just dipped and moved all over the place. Reds announcers pointed out that he has such a special arm motion in delivery that makes it a little hard for hitters to pick up exact direction of ball upon release.
I agree with you about the change-up, but then that’s kind of a no-brainer. Probably just looks like a slower fb to most hitters. If it’s going to work for him, he’s going to need to fool hitters with it. Not there yet.
Incidentally, not to be a grammarian-prig, but it’s “fewer” change-ups, not “less.”
When he beaned Ludwick (sp?), you could see that incredible, initial anger. I couldn’t help but wonder if a. he thought twice about charging Harvey or b) he realized there was no intention involved. Funny.
Oink.
Thanks for pointing out the grammatical error…must’ve slipped past my editor
Well actually he did not use his change much in the Braves game either. It was the Giants and Pads games that he relied on the change up ( around 20%) the rest of the games slightly over 5%.
He used it because they told him to…
Sure he used it less vs the Braves and pitched a pretty good game which just goes to show he was COACHED to two losses by insisting on using a pitch he shouldn’t use as much as they told him!
Dang people miss the point here. The author said he had used the change up too much since his first start and especially his last couple of starts. That isn’t true. He only used it too much in two of his starts which did not include his last start either.
He Didn’t use the change a lot in the braves game but it was still more
Actually he used it less in the Braves game than he did in his debut. 6.6% in his debut compared to 5.9 % in the Braves game.
He threw less pitches in the braves game which alters the percentages a bit but i see your point..I probably should have not included the Braves game, he got burned on one pitch in the first inning by Heyward, which was a fastball, but the overall idea was when he throws less change ups, he pitches better…and he arguably had his best performance last night and also threw the least amount of change ups
Yeah honestly I have not seen last nights percentages yurt, they aren’t on fangraphs yet. I still think he needs the change up but as Darling said, he certainly doesn’t need to use it much yet. When they figure him out more he can start mixing things in but if they can’t hit his fastball and slider then no need to slow it down.
FANGRAPHS….lol…the church for Sabr-freaks everywhere….
Honestly I hate the articles but they do have some stats that are hard to find, like velocity of pitches or type of pitch.
I can really breakdown Harvey, but who will listen? Right now he is just throwing a four seam fastball, which is great when you want to spot the fastball, but I think if he really wants to have success at the MLB level he should develop a two-seamer. I don’t think he needs to develop a change, I think a two seamer would be more beneficial to him. The four seamer tens to be flat and if left up in the zone will get crushed…I think we saw a little more of that in the Braves game.
Dude, you are the best new writer this site has had in years. I been even saying this in our chats. It’s good to see a person with legit baseball knowledge posting about legit baseball topics.
Maniac, i will not go as far as saying he’s the best, but in short time, he’s in my top 3 def…
Mitch, the CORE salute you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks guys…I’m glad you are enjoying my stuff and I will continue to try and raise the bar going forward.
Are you saying you don’t enjoy the stylings of CleanShout…errrr ah…Jessep!
Lol… he’s the worst writer in here… hands down!!!
How many articles have you written?
Same amount as you….
I have you both beat. I’ve written about 25 or 27 at least. I stopped contributing after Jessep kept turning each one into a clusterf***! Great choice for moderator huh?
Lmao… That is what he does, for him to take away your spotlight he comments on your article, then go and write an article about the opposite of what you wrote so he can take comments away from you… Shameful..
Really? I have written a few, but not in a while now. Love how you declare someone is the worst at something you’ve never had the guts to do.
Is that because he was throwing to an actual, real-life, good catcher?
That may have had something to do with it, but if memory serves me, Johnson was catching during his debut when he kicked butt. I was wondering if the Shoppach move had something to do with having a more experienced catcher on the team to help Harvey and the rest of the staff.
Well, I’d call Johnson a real catcher. Not a real hitter, but as far as Catcher goes, I think he’s better than Thole. Then again, so is Nickeas. Just a shame they can’t hit their weight in average.
I wonder if Shoppach helped?
I don’t think it hurts but I think the author has it right. His change up just isn’t ready yet and to increase it above 10% at this point is foolish.
Of course he did. That is why our “GENIUS” GM got him.
(Chum thrown in water. Cue John Williams Jaws theme.)
LoL
Mitch,
Harvey looked great last night against a respectable offense and I was glad to see it. After the game, Ojeda said he did not pitch to a scouting report – he went after each hitter using his own knowledge and judgment.
The changeup is his weakest pitch, but it is definitely something that is needed. A fourth pitch as a starter is pretty useful. The fastball is a plus pitch and definitely MLB level. The slider is pretty impressive as well. I don’t mind the curveball either, it’s a good “change of pace” pitch – same as the changeup. But they’re hittable. So I think you’re right here – he was successful because he stuck to his bread and butter.
Any advice on Francisco? Ha.
By the way, Petanick Chronicles is a nice site. I’m a Mets/Jets fan myself. Tip of the hat.
Thanks Satish…I haven’t been able to keep up with the other site as much as I would like :-/
Mitch,
Are you on the only writer on the site or do you have contributing?
@Stick:
If this is a washout season, I don’t see the reason we couldn’t have left him in AAA. There are certain things that need seasoning in the minors. If he wants to be successful, he is likely going to have to stick to his best pitches. If he tinkers/experiments too much, he may run into trouble, and the mind of a young pitcher is something that is potentially fragile. I find that the mental part of the game is something people overlook (or look at differently than I do, rather.)
doesn’t matter IMO how long you leave a guy in the minors. They will always have an adjustment period to the majors. So makes sense to let him get it out of the way now, instead of say next April.
and the CU is something he has been using/working on all along, and that even he recognizes as necessary. So it would be counter productive to just abandon it.
experimental pitch makes it sound like they had dickey show him the KB grip, and told him to just go out in the game and give it a try!
Yes, I’m the only person writing. I started up another football site at the beginning of the year also call big apple tailgate which covered Jets and Giants football but didn’t have enough writers.
he is in final development now (basically doing what he would have been doing in AAA if they had not called him up when they did). And if that (the CU) is his weak link, and this is a washout season, it makes sense to have him use the pitch to get a baseline as to how it plays in the majors (and so he has a clear understanding of the work he needs to do).
I don’t agree with what some people are saying which seems to be just pump FBs if he can get away with it now, and don’t throw anything else. Penny wise, pound foolish.
Agree…I’m not trying to come off as saying that he should just stick with a fastball/slider his entire career. I think he should focus on what got him to this point to build a nice foundation at the big league level to build on for the future. If you start mixing in experimental pitches now it’s probably not e best for his development.
I felt like Shoppach made a difference. It seemed like Harvey was working inside with his heater instead of just low and away/outside half. I think this a problem for Parnell too – he doesn’t work up and in enough. Change the eye level.
In Harvey’s first start he worked inside quite alot, but I hasn’t seen it since then – until last night.
I think Thole is a bigger problem for the Mets than is commonly understood.