Matthew Edward Harvey (born March 27, 1989), nicknamed "the Dark Knight", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, and Baltimore Orioles.
Harvey played baseball and basketball at Fitch Senior High School in Groton, Connecticut, and continued his baseball career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Mets selected Harvey in the 2010 MLB draft as the seventh overall pick. In his major league debut on July 26, 2012, against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Harvey set a new club record with 11 strikeouts while earning his first career victory.
Harvey had a breakout season in 2013, being selected to play in the MLB All-Star Game. Harvey then missed the entire 2014 season due to Tommy John surgery but returned in 2015 as his team won the National League pennant to advance to the World Series. His career, once promising during his first two seasons, was derailed by ineffectiveness after additional injuries, including thoracic outlet syndrome and a stress fracture in the scapula. After a disappointing start to the 2018 season, Harvey was traded to the Reds. He signed with the Angels in 2019, but was released midway through the season after posting a 3–5 record with a 7.09 earned run average. He signed with the Orioles for the 2021 season. He has played for the Italy national baseball team.
Harvey was born in New London, Connecticut. He is the only son and youngest of three children of Ed and Jackie Harvey, both teachers. He is of Irish and Italian descent. Harvey was raised in Mystic, Connecticut, with his two older sisters, Jessica and Jocelyn. His father was a standout athlete at Groton, Connecticut's Fitch Senior High School and attended the University of Connecticut where he played both baseball (as a centerfielder) and football, even appearing in the 1972 College World Series. After UConn, he eventually returned to Groton to coach his former high school baseball team.
Harvey grew up as a New York Yankees fan, especially admiring Paul O'Neill and Derek Jeter, whom he has described as a childhood idol of his. At the beginning of every elementary school year, when asked to write about his life goals, Harvey would write that he wanted to play professional baseball.
At Fitch Senior High School, Harvey played both baseball (where he was coached by his dad) and basketball. He was teammates with future Major League pitcher Jesse Hahn on both teams. As a high school freshman, he was able on a few occasions to throw as fast as 90 miles per hour (140 km/h). Harvey would often pitch complete games in every outing, as he recalled later, “a typical game for me... I would walk 5 or 6 but strike out 16 each game, and only allow a few hits.” Harvey also played summer baseball for numerous travel teams across the country, including the South Florida Bandits, the Midland Redskins, and the East Coast Grays. As a high school senior, he was selected as a Rawlings First Team All-American and named to their Northeast All-Region First Team. He was grouped with Madison Bumgarner and Rick Porcello as one of the best pitchers in the 2007 MLB draft and a likely first round pick. Baseball America ranked him the best high school prospect in 2007. However, he fell to the Los Angeles Angels in the third round with the 118th overall pick, likely due to his lack of command. As the Angels offered only a $1 million signing bonus, Harvey took the advice of his advisors, Bill Caudill and Scott Boras, and opted to sign with the UNC Tar Heels instead.
Harvey attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in sports administration. During his collegiate career, Harvey went 22–7 with 3.73 earned run average (ERA) in 238+2⁄3 innings pitched. He ranks ninth all-time in UNC history in strikeouts (263) and 10th in wins (22).
Harvey spent the summers of 2008 and 2009 pitching for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Harvey was a key component of the Anglers’ 2008 bullpen, completing the season with a 0.83 ERA, the lowest on the team, pitching 21+2⁄3 innings and striking out 29 of 92 batters faced. Harvey returned to Chatham in 2009 after a difficult sophomore year on the mound. As Harvey explains, he had lost some of the mechanics and flexibility that had made him such a great pitcher throughout high school and the beginning of his college career. Although his 2009 summer was not as impressive as the previous one, his time on Cape Cod helped him return to the basics and set him on the road to becoming the seventh overall draft pick in the 2010 first year player draft. According to his pitching coach at UNC, Scott Forbes, Harvey returned from the 2009 Cape Cod League season with "a more professional approach."
Harvey was selected as the seventh overall pick by the New York Mets in the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Harvey was listed at 6' 4" and 210 lbs, batting and throwing right-handed.
In 2011, Harvey's first professional season in the Mets minor-league system, he split time between the single-A St. Lucie Mets and the Double-A Binghamton Mets. With St. Lucie in the Florida State League (FSL), he went 8–2 with a 2.37 ERA and recorded 92 strikeouts in 76 innings. His performance garnered him two FSL Pitcher of the Week awards and he was selected as a FSL Mid-Season All-Star. Although selected to appear in the FSL All-Star game, Harvey did not pitch because he was promoted to Double-A Binghamton.
In the Eastern League with Binghamton, he went 5–3 with a 4.53 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 59.2 innings. Harvey also pitched in the 2011 All-Star Futures Game, recording a save for the winning U.S. team over the World team.
Harvey was ranked as the Mets organization's second best prospect in 2012 and the 34th overall best prospect by MLB.com. He was invited to spring training by the Mets that year but did not make the team. Instead, he was promoted to the club's Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons of the International League (IL).
In the first half of his 2012 season at Triple-A, Harvey went 7–4 with a 3.39 ERA in 18 starts. That performance earned him International League Mid-Season All-Star honors. His strong pitching, plus injuries to major leaguers Mike Pelfrey and Dillon Gee, put him in contention for the fifth spot in the Mets rotation. Despite spending more time pitching at Triple-A than other top draft picks, 105 innings, recording a 3.34 ERA and striking out over a batter per inning through mid-July, the Mets front office (headed by general manager Sandy Alderson) did not want to promote Harvey until his consistency and control improved.
After an injury to staff ace Johan Santana and replacements to the Mets' major-league rotation failed to turn in quality starts, general manager Sandy Alderson and Mets manager Terry Collins backtracked and decided to promote Harvey to the majors, ending his stay with the Bisons with a 7–5 record and 3.68 ERA. Harvey stayed in the rotation for the remainder of the season as the fifth starter.
In Harvey's debut, a July 26 start against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, he pitched 5+1⁄3 innings, giving up three hits and three walks while recording 11 strikeouts. Harvey recorded his first major-league strikeout against the first batter he faced, Gerardo Parra of the Diamondbacks. He then had his first major league hit, a two-out double off of Wade Miley in the top of the following inning. Harvey set a Mets franchise record for strikeouts in a pitching debut (11) and became the first player in modern baseball history (since 1900) to strike out 10 or more batters and get two hits in his major-league debut. After the game, Mets manager Terry Collins said:
"I haven't seen 98 out of a starting pitcher in quite some time. He's lived up to exactly what everybody's talked about."
In his second major-league start, Harvey pitched six innings against the San Francisco Giants, gave up two earned runs, three walks and struck out seven in his first loss. His 18 total strikeouts were a Mets record for a rookie over his first two games of his career. After three straight losses, Harvey was able to earn his second win against the Cincinnati Reds on August 16. In his next two starts, Harvey got a no-decision and a win against the Rockies and Phillies, respectively. Both were quality starts and he struck out 15 combined in the games. Over his first 15 plate appearances in seven starts, he posted impressive batting numbers, with a .462 average, two doubles and three runs batted in (RBIs).