Royals ready to see if Matt Harvey has anything left
The Royals took a flier on Matt Harvey, and now they’re ready to see what he’s got.
Just after the start of the season, the Kansas City Royals signed Matt Harvey to a minor league deal. According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, they have called up the former New York Met.
From 2012-15, over three seasons as he missed 2014 after Tommy John surgery, Harvey posted a 2.53 ERA with a 9.5 K/9 and a 2.0 BB/9 over 427 innings. At age-24 in 2013, he earned the first of what seemed sure to be multiple All-Star selections.
But 2016 didn’t start off well, then he went on the DL with a shoulder issue in June. He eventually had surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, and his career has not gotten back on track.
The Mets traded Harvey to the Cincinnati Reds in 2018, and he had a respectable 4.50 ERA over 24 starts (128 innings) for them. He started 2019 with the Los Angeles Angels, but a 7.09 ERA over his first 12 starts led to his release. The Oakland Athletics then signed him to a minor league deal, and he had a 3.18 ERA over five Triple-A appearances.
The reports regarding Harvey from the Royals’ training site were good.
Interesting development going on at the Royals alternate site at T-Bones Stadium: Club officials have been impressed with how well Matt Harvey has looked so far. “He’s throwing really well.” Stay tuned on how Harvey will fit into their plans over the next few weeks.
— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) August 7, 2020
Injuries to Jakob Junis, Mike Montgomery and Glenn Sparkman have thinned Kansas City’s rotation depth. They’re still only 9-14 entering Tuesday, despite winning six of their last 10 games, so Harvey will get a shot in a low-risk environment.
Due to the Reds’ ongoing COVID-19 concerns after a player tested positive late last week, Tuesday night’s game in Kansas City has been postponed. A doubleheader is scheduled for Wednesday though, and that seemed like it’d be when Harvey would make his Royals’ debut.
According to Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com, Harvey will indeed start the second game on Wednesday.
Royals confirm it will be Brad Keller and Matt Harvey in tomorrow's doubleheader.
— Jeffrey Flanagan (@FlannyMLB) August 18, 2020
Harvey will never be the star it looked like he would become with the Mets, complete with a Gotham City-style nickname, “The Dark Knight.” But the Royals aren’t losing anything to see what he might have, and maybe he does enough over the rest of the season to get a more concrete opportunity somewhere next year.
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