Harvey's Hot Start

After bursting onto the scene with ten magnificent starts last year, Matt Harvey has proven himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball this year. The major league leader in WHIP, bWAR, starts, winning percentage and H/9 has already earned comparisons to Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, and Stephen Strasburg, and is talented enough to outpitch them all. With the New York Mets well on their way to another mediocre season, Harvey (along with David Wright) figures to be one of the few bright spots in what's shaping up to be a boring summer for Mets fans. Here's what April's NL Pitcher of the Month has done so far:

• Harvey has made nine starts this year. Eight of them were quality starts, and in the lone exception (April 29th against Miami, of all teams) he allowed just one earned run
• Threw nine innings of one-hit ball against the Chicago White Sox on May 7th
• He's averaged over seven innings per start
• The Mets are 7-2 (.778) when he pitches, 9-21 (.300) when he doesn't
• Harvey has 68 strikeouts already. No other Mets pitcher has more than 27
• Opponents have been utterly helpless against Harvey, batting just .149/.203/.214 off him so far
• After receiving wins in each of his first four starts, Harvey has managed only one win over his past five despite his 2.08 ERA. For that he can thank New York's offense, which has scored 16 runs in his last five starts combined. With a little more run support, he could easily be 9-0
• Two thirds of Harvey's pitches have been strikes, which explains why his K/BB ratio is just under five (4.86)
• After averaging two walks per start in April, he's issued just two free passes in the month of May
• The three batters that have taken him deep are Justin Morneau, Matt Kemp, and Clint Barmes. Which of these does not belong?

It remains to be seen if the 24 year-old can sustain his dominance over the course of a full season, but I see him putting together an R.A. Dickey kind of year, which means I see an All-Star nod (especially with the game being played at Citi Field) and plenty of Cy Young votes in his future..