It appears as if the Dark Knight is ready to Rise again.
According to MLB insider Jon Heyman, the Kansas City Royals are set to call up RHP Matt Harvey on Tuesday, marking Harvey’s return to the Majors after being out of baseball until KC signed him to a minor-league deal last month.
While KC isn’t exactly Gotham, it could be a great chance for Harvey to resurrect what was a once-promising baseball career that began in New York. The righty went 9-5 with a 2.27 ERA in an All-Star 2013 season for the Mets and, after missing all of 2014 due to Tommy John surgery, he returned in 2015 to go 13-8 with a 2.71 ERA, but the remainder of his Mets tenure was more known for injuries, off-field antics (including not showing up for a game), and outbursts from his agent about usage than his on-field performance (a 5.93 ERA and two demotions to the bullpen from 2016-18).
The Mets dealt Harvey to Cincinnati in mid-2018 but his struggles only remediated slightly, as he was 7-7 with a 4.50 ERA in 24 starts that year, and then 3-5 with a 7.09 ERA in 12 starts for the Angels last season before being designated for assignment in July and finishing the year with the Athletics’ Triple-A squad.
The 31-year-old was possibly linked to the Korean Baseball Organization earlier in the spring when MLB was shut down, and had reportedly also reached out to the Mets, but signed a minor-league deal with the Royals and has been impressive in intrasquad outings at the team’s Alternate Training Site.
“He’s throwing well,” GM Dayton Moore told MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan last week. “And he’s a guy who can serve a variety of roles for us. He can be a starter, he can be a long man, he might even be able to help us in the back of the bullpen. We’ll see.”
It’s not hard to see some innings for Harvey in KC, where Jakob Junis was recently placed on the injured list and Mike Montgomery was moved to the 45-day I.L., freeing up a potential rotation spot for Harvey. The team has an open 40-man roster spot, so they would not have to make a move there to accommodate Harvey.