Matt Harvey made his debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and it was great.
Right-hander Matt Harvey was once a household name. He was known all over Gotham, and “Harvey Day” came around every fifth day. Fast forward to 2018, and you’ll find him in a much different place. He is out of the Big Apple and now in Cincinnati, making his debut for the Reds on Friday night.
Harvey is now in a place where he can just adjust and be himself. There will be no over analyzing or anything like that. The righty has fresh faces for support and to forget about the past. He did just that in his first game, as he tossed 4 scoreless innings and only 4 hits. And this wasn’t against the Miami Marlins, this was against a good Dodgers lineup, albeit without Justin Turner and Corey Seager.
Hopefully Harvey can build off of that and take it into his next start. He is someone the Reds are looking to rebound, as he could become an intriguing trade chip come the trade deadline. This is a great story for baseball because Harvey is a player who fell from grace, and he can now revitalize himself and make a comeback.
Here is a quote from Harvey after the game courtesy of MLB.com:
I came in yesterday after the game and everybody was saying we haven’t lost since they traded for me, so I had to go out there and keep that going for everybody. No, it was good. It was fun. Unfortunately, I was only able to go out there for four innings because I haven’t started in a while, but you know, it was good to get my feet wet and help this team win.
Harvey sounds like his head is in the right place, as he is going out there and contributing. With that said, it will be interesting to see how his next start pans out, which would be against the San Francisco Giants.
Overall, Matt Harvey is a great story for baseball. He can prove haters wrong and inspire others to do the same as well. With that said, let’s see how he follows up dominance in his next start against the Giants.