Despite Matt Harvey’s brutal start to the season, Terry Collins believes he will rebound.
“I do believe as we continue that Matt’s going to get better,” Collins said. “If this was something that we thought was physical, I’d say, ‘Hey, he’s going to have a tough time.’ But I think he’s going to bounce back.” (MLB.com)
Harvey enters today’s game with a 3-7 record, a 6.08 ERA and 1.68 WHIP during 51.1 innings pitched. He is coming off another disappointing start as he allowed five runs and eight hits against the Nationals while striking out only one.
Harvey also had his worst outing of his career against Washington on May 19th where he was hammered for nine runs and eight hits in 2.2 innings.
Perhaps even more concerning is how his problems go far deeper than ERA and WHIP. His numbers are down in every major category as his FIP (4.43), K./9 (7.4) and strikeout to walk ratio (2.59) are all career lows.
But prior to this season, he was one of the most dominant pitchers in the game.
He posted a strong 2.71 ERA and 1.01 WHIP during 189 innings pitched last year, and had a career 2.53 ERA, 2.65 FIP and 9.5 K/9 through his first 65 starts.
“This is not just a Triple-A guy who’s here for a tryout,” Collins said. “This is a guy who started an All-Star Game a couple of years ago, so I think we’ve got to push a little farther.”
Despite his current struggles, Collins says Harvey is physically fine and thinks they are a result of an increased workload during the playoffs.
“He pitched later in the year than he ever has before and with great effort,” Collins said. “Those are big innings that he pitched last year in October and November. From my experience, your body doesn’t bounce back as quickly as you wish it did. Even though you’re 27-years old, sometimes it takes a little time. I think that’s exactly where Matt’s at. I’ve told him that.”
Harvey pitched 26.2 innings in the postseason, and had a 3.07 ERA with wins against both the Dodgers and Cubs. He also pitched spectacularly against the Royals in Game 5 of the World Series, even though Kansas City battled back against him in the 9th inning and later won in extra innings.
Collins also says Harvey should get stronger as the season goes on like he was able to do last year.
“I told Matt that a year ago we were all concerned that his velocity wasn’t there, that his slider wasn’t there. By mid-summer it was there. I still think the same thing’s going to happen this year.”
After the All-Star break last season, Harvey posted a stellar 2.19 ERA and 0.93 WHIP.
As Harvey’s track record shows, he has the ability to be a tremendous starter. Even though his performance this year is extremely concerning, it’s easy to why Collins is still sticking by him and willing to give him every last chance to succeeded.
“We’ve discussed every possible scenario and way to deal with it,” Collins said. “We’ve talked about disabling him. But you have to have a reason. If he’s physically OK, you just can’t make up something. We’ve talked about giving him some time, sending him down, but we’ve got to get this guy to perform here. All that stuff has been discussed. We’ve just got to ring the rag dry here.”
