The 21-year-old Harvey, who is 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, was considered by many the top high school prospect in the country in 2007, but fell to the third round (taken by the Angels) because of concerns about his signability; he’s a Scott Boras client. He eventually headed off to the University of North Carolina, where he had an up-and-down career.
He fulfilled his promise as a freshman, going 7-2 with a 2.79 ERA on a team that lost in the College World Series final. He struggled last spring as a sophomore, going 7-2 but posting a 5.40 ERA. But he climbed draft boards again this spring by going 8-3 with a 3.09 ERA while notching 102 strikeouts in 96 innings.
Harvey is a prototypical power pitcher with a fastball in the mid- to upper-90s. As Peter Gammons noted right after his selection was announced, he had a 156-pitch outing this season in which his final pitch was a 96-mph fastball. His-two seamer shows some late movement, as well.
In high school, Harvey threw an overhand curveball, but has transitioned to a hard slider in college that is still developing, but shows potential to be a plus pitch. He still throws the curve occasionally. He doesn’t throw his changeup much, but appears to have good feel for the pitch, which he’ll need to be a successful pro.
It looks like the Mets have a very promising pitcher in Harvey as many believe he’s returned to the form that made him an elite prospect three years ago. The mechanical flaws that were believed to cause his rough sophomore season are mostly corrected. And this is the same UNC program that produced Red Sox setup man Daniel Bard and has had numerous other pitchers drafted over the past five seasons.
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