Early this season Joe Harvey made the transition from the bullpen to the starting rotation. It proved to be a beneficial move as this week he is making the transition from college to the professional ranks.
Harvey, who split his high school career between La Salle and Kennedy-Kenrick before playing three seasons at Pitt, was selected by the Yankees in the 19th round (572nd overall) of last week’s Major League Baseball draft. Being drafted was a thrilling experience for the Audubon native, but he knows this is just the beginning.
“It was an exciting moment and a lot of hard work paid off,” he said from Tampa, where he arrived Wednesday for workouts at the Yankees’ minor league complex. “It was awesome getting drafted, but I was also kind of like this is the start of my career. It is job now and I have work to do. I am very fortunate to be able to have a chance to play professional baseball. I need to take it one day at a time.”
By the time you read this Harvey may have already been assigned to the Yankees’ short-season Class A affiliate in Staten Island, which is where he expected to begin his career. Staten Island, a member of the New York-Penn League, began its season Friday night.
Harvey, who graduated Kennedy-Kenrick in 2010, battled injuries his first couple of seasons at Pitt. What would have been his freshman season was lost to a knee injury and a broken pitching hand delayed the start of his redshirt freshman year before appearing in 17 games out of the Panthers’ bullpen. Last season he developed into a closer and got stronger as the year went progressed, finishing 4-1 with a team-leading five saves and an ERA of 3.27.
Despite the success he had out of the ‘pen last season there was talk among Pitt’s coaching staff of making Harvey a starter. Sure enough, after three relief appearances he found himself in the Panthers’ rotation.
“The coaches let me know early in the year that I was going to be a starter/reliever and I started the year in the bullpen,” said Harvey, who had one save in those three relief appearances. “I just approached it as I do almost every season and that was to try to be in the best shape that I can. Pitching more innings did not matter to me because I felt stronger with the more pitches I threw. What I struggled with was the mentality because when you come out of the bullpen you are looking for a strikeout right away. Starting is an easier situation where you can get into a rhythm and get some groundballs or whatever.”
After scuffling in a couple of non-conference starts Harvey found his rhythm against conference opponents. In 10 starts versus the ACC he only had three decisions (2-1), but recorded a 2.56 ERA and walked only 13 batters while striking out 45 in 59 2/3 innings of work. His final numbers were 2-2, 2.90 with 16 walks and 56 strikeouts in 71 1/3 innings.
Among Harvey’s highlights was allowing only three hits and no runs in eight innings against No. 23 Georgia Tech on March 29. It was such efforts that put Harvey on the radar of a number of teams.
“I heard from a lot of teams a month prior to the draft and I figuring out what it would take to sign and be a part of their organization,” he said. “On draft day I heard from a couple of more teams that were kind of interested, but the Yankees kept calling and calling and I think that is what ultimately led to them drafting me.”
Harvey selected last Saturday, the final day of MLB’s three-day draft, then it was off to Tampa to throw bullpen sessions in what is essentially and extended spring training for drafted players and other young prospects awaiting assignment to a minor-league affiliate.
If Harvey is indeed assigned to Staten Island as expected, his family will have multiple NYPL ballparks within a two or three hours driving time. In addition to Staten Island, other locales within the league include Williamsport (Phillies affiliate), State College (Cardinals), Brooklyn (Mets), Hudson Valley (Rays) in New York and Aberdeen (Orioles), which plays in Cal Ripken Stadium not far south of the Delaware border in Maryland.
“My family and I were joking about that because Pittsburgh is at least a four-and-a-half-hour drive while Staten Island and other teams are only a couple of hours away, so they will be a lot closer for my family to drive to my games,” he said.
While Harvey is preparing for the start of his professional career, his cousin is in Omaha getting ready for the College World Series. Chris Harvey, who is from Norristown and attended Germantown Academy, is hitting .302 as a backup catcher for Vanderbilt. The Commodores play Louisville on Saturday evening in a game that will be televised on ESPN2.
“We grew up playing Little League and AAU and we are extremely close,” said Joe of his relationship with Chris, who is a junior. “Whenever (Vanderbilt) is on TV I will watch them and every once in a while I will text him to see how he is doing.”
Contents of those texts are about to include how Joe’s life in the minor leagues is progressing.
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