The Dark Knight is ready to rise once again over the AL East.
According to Audacy MLB insider (and soon to be NY Post columnist) Jon Heyman, Matt Harvey is close to signing a minor-league deal with the Orioles, with the plan for him to report to Extended Spring Training in Sarasota to build himself up.
Harvey, now 33, spent last season with the Orioles, going 6-14 with a 6.27 ERA in 127 2/3 innings over 28 starts. Not quite the career arc Harvey hoped for when he was selected No. 7 overall by the Mets in 2010, but he enters this season with a record of 50-66 and a 4.42 ERA in 180 games/172 starts in his MLB career.
Of course, Harvey has more recently been known for his antics off the field than on. He impressed with a fastball touching 95 MPH in recent Instagram workout videos, but The Dark Knight has also been in the news for his frank testimony in the Eric Kay/Tyler Skaggs case – testimony that, thanks to his revelations of drug use, could lead to a suspension from MLB – and for being seen chatting up tennis star Genie Bouchard at a music festival shortly after Bouchard’s breakup with Steelers QB Mason Rudolph.
If and when he is ready, though, Harvey could be an option to soak up innings in an uncertain Orioles rotation. As of Opening Day, the O’s rotation behind ace John Means and veteran Jordan Lyles includes two pitchers in Dean Kremer and Bruce Zimmerman who split 2021 between MLB and Triple-A, and a likely tandem spot combining Keegan Akin – who underwent abdominal surgery last fall and isn’t fully stretched out – and Tyler Wells, who pitched 57 innings out of Baltimore’s bullpen last season.
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Harvey’s 127 2/3 innings were the second-most on the O’s last season behind Means, and the only two other hurlers to reach even 95 innings were Akin (95 exactly) and Jorge Lopez, who is now in line to be Baltimore’s closer after making 25 starts last season.
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