UNC Baseball: Matt Harvey Retires from Baseball

Former UNC Baseball and New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey announced that he would retire from baseball on Friday morning.

Former UNC baseball pitcher Matt Harvey announced via his Instagram page on Friday that he has officially decided to hang up the cleats and retire from baseball.

Harvey addressed April 19, 2013, in his Instagram post. That day was a game between the New York Mets and Washington Nationals.

It was expected to be a pitchers’ duel between 24-year-olds Matt Harvey and Stephen Strasburg. Harvey pitched seven innings, giving up only one run and striking out seven on the way to a 7-1 Mets victory. In his Instagram post, he recognizes what it felt like to have the fans at Citi Field chant “Harvey’s better.”

Harvey was the no. 7 overall pick in the 2010 MLB Draft and would later be called up to the major leagues halfway through the 2012 season due to an injury on the Mets rotation. Harvey made his MLB Debut on July 26th.

In 2013, he earned the nickname “The Dark Knight” and was named the starting pitcher for the National League in the All-Star game. In August, he would suffer a partial UCL tear and would need Tommy John surgery and never seemed to become the pitcher everyone expected he could due to the injury.

He returned from Tommy John surgery in 2015 and was part of a Mets pitching staff that would make the 2015 World Series and lose to the Kansas City Royals. He continued to be a part of the Mets’ pitching staff until early 2018 when they made him a designated free agent. He then would play for multiple teams over the next 3 years, making appearances for the Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, and Baltimore Orioles. He finished his MLB career with a 50-66 record and an ERA of 4.42 with 867 strikeouts.

Harvey was with the UNC baseball program from 2008-2010, in the middle of four straight College World Series appearances (2006-2009). During the 2010 season, he was the ace of the Carolina pitching staff, leading the team in innings pitched (96), wins (8), ERA (3.09), and strikeouts (102) while also being named to the All-ACC first team.

In 2010 at Clemson, Harvey pitched nine innings, striking out an impressive 15 batters in a 5-3 Carolina victory. He finished his career at Carolina with a 22-7 overall record and a 3.73 ERA.

We can only wonder if “The Dark Knight” could’ve been the best professional pitcher to ever come out of the UNC baseball program if he didn’t suffer that UCL injury during his impressive 2013 season with the Mets.

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