We are only days away from the draft, so its time to look at some of the players that could be donning a Mets uniform soon. The Mets, as you probably have heard a million times now, have the 7th draft pick, so they can pick a player that has the potential to be a star. The only news to officially come out of the Mets front office is that Minaya says the Mets have the money to spend over their draft slot and take the player with the best available player (for example, in the bizzaro world chance that the first 6 teams pass on Harper, the Mets will probably pick him up).
Heyman of Sports Illustrated said that the Mets like Matt Harvey very much, so he seems like a good player to start looking at. Havey, the 6 foot 4 inch tall right handed pitcher comes out of UNC. Harvey was drafted 118 overall in the third round of the 2007 draft by the Angels but elected to College instead. He was a star high school pitcher who in his senior year for Fitch high school had a 0.64 ERA over 54.2 innings pitched. Baseball America in Feburary of 2007 named Harvey the #1 High School Prospect. A full description of his accolades can be found here.
He continued his success in college. While he his numbers do not look fantastic in 2009, his strikeout numbers have stayed fairly consistent throughout his time in college. Also an interesting numer is his K/BB ratio. The below are Matt Harvey's stats from College. This was posted on Amazin Avenue during their Harvey profile. As you can see, the ratio stayed fairly consitent (slightly better in 09) from 2008 to 2009, however, it got a lot better this past year, and its nearly 3 to 1.
| Year | W | L | ERA | G | GS | IP | R | H | HR | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 7 | 2 | 2.79 | 19 | 16 | 67.2 | 31 | 52 | 1 | 47 | 80 |
| 2009 | 7 | 2 | 5.40 | 21 | 13 | 75.0 | 52 | 88 | 8 | 42 | 81 |
| 2010 | 7 | 3 | 3.10 | 13 | 13 | 90.0 | 40 | 76 | 6 | 32 | 93 |
Now time to go beyond the numbers (thanks to mlb.com). Harvey has a fastball that ranges between 96 and 97 mph and they report that there is some decent movement to it. He has three offspeed pitches that he mixes (Curveball, Slider, Changeup). According the report he has a feel for this pitches. The slider is new for him, the curveball was his out pitch in high school, but now he likes to use the silder more often instead. He still has a high draft stock because his problems that derailed him in 2009 have probably been corrected. He had some delivery issues, which if there are any lingering issues left would be his main weakness. However, he looks to be a good draft option for the Mets.
