It’s been years since fans got excited about Harvey Day. What used to be a holiday is now a topic that draws rants from Mets fans. How can someone that was so good now be pitching so bad? Will we ever get Harvey back? Will he learn to pitch with diminished velocity?
“There is no reason for questions, there are no answers,” Harvey said after his last start. “You are going to write what you want to write anyways, obviously it’s deserved. Whatever you want to write, there is nothing to say.”
What the future has in store is unknown. What is known, however, is that Matt Harvey is currently having the worst season ever for a Mets starting pitcher.
As Joel Sherman of the New York Post points out, Harvey’s ERA in his last two outings has gone from 5.82 to 6.14 to 6.59 through 17 starts. The previous worst ERA for any pitcher the Mets allowed to make 17 starts in a season was Pete Schourek in 1993, who in 18 starts and 41 games overall had a 5.96 ERA.
Furthermore, Harvey’s ERA is 35 percent worse than MLB average when factoring in league and ballpark. The only worse mark in Mets history for at least 17 starts came in 1963, the franchise’s second year of existence, when Jay Hook was 37 percent worse than average. The .870 OPS against Harvey is the worst in Mets history for at least 17 starts. The previous mark was Jae Weong Seo, who allowed .867 in 2004.
Harvey still has one or two more starts this season to bring his numbers down, but considering how he’s looked, that doesn’t seem likely. He did manage to hit 96 mph a few times in his last start, which is a good sign, but that means nothing if he’s going to throw 96 without movement right over the heart of the plate.
Overall this season, Harvey is 6-5 with a 6.59 ERA, 6.16 FIP, and 1.665 WHIP across 17 starts. In 84.2 innings he has struck out 62 and walked 42.
