PORT ST. LUCIE – Those of you who follow me regularly know what I think of Matt Harvey–he is a talented, poised, competitive pitcher who is focused and determined to be on a winning team. This spring, many dissected his every pitch not realizing spring training for him was a process getting him ready for the season on a slow but steady pace.
We all fall in love with the radar gun but to me command and late movement is what needs to be there first which I saw in his last start which prompted my piece on NY Sports Day for fans to relax. Today, we saw everything blend together in his arsenal as the gun topped 95 MPH with his fast stuff but more importantly, all of his pitches had the late movement I saw back in 2015.
After the game, Harvey talked abut that and specifically stated he felt his game coming together in his bullpen sessions but of course the panic police did not pick up on that. He also said that it was important today to work in situations with runners in scoring position making quality pitchers to leave runners on base. So much has been written about the Mets rotation but understand this–this staff has talent as a group I have not seen in decades in this sport. Health is an issue to watch but most opposing hitters are going to cringe facing these pitchers all year.
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Many a team will come into CitiField with Noah, deGrom, and Harvey lined up and will leave feeling fortunate if they salvage one game. Trust me on this one–this staff has a chance for greatness you see once in a lifetime. Enjoy the ride Met fans.