Matt Harvey is no longer a starting pitcher. Three years ago, coming off a superb return-to-form for the Mets, that sentence would be unthinkable – the Dark Knight looked like the centerpiece of one of the greatest pitching staffs of all time in 2015. But chronic injuries and ineffectiveness have taken their toll as Mets manager Mickey Callaway announced that Harvey would be pitching out of the pen for the foreseeable future. How could Harvey fall so far from grace?



One of the biggest culprits has been pitch velocity. It’s been Harvey’s primary weapon for much of his career, and he’s suffered after being robbed of it by injury. Per Statcast, Harvey generated whiffs with 11.9% of his 4-seam pitches in 2015 throwing with an average FSFB velocity of 96.5 MPH, but batters swung and missed only 6.3% of the time in 2017 when his FSFB velocity dropped to 94.0 MPH. Harvey’s swinging strike rate across all pitches dropped by 5.1% over that stretch, while...