Will Matt Harvey be the next Tom Seaver? Or Jeremy Shockey? How about Matt Harvey 1.0?

'67 Mets - Seaver, Koosman, Gentry and some guy named Ryan. First name was Nolan I think.

The Mets have been blessed with great pitching staffs at various times in the franchise history. Now, it seems like they are looking to usher in the next wave. Comparing Matt Harvey to Tom Seaver is quite heady stuff, but remember this is from the same pool of  group-thinkers that was ready, willing and able to order up a Hall of Fame bust for one Jeremy Shockey. And we see how that turned out.

So maybe he is Tom Seaver 2.0. Based on this side by side comparison, sure. Maybe better.

from Bleacher Report:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1618383-comparing-matt-harveys-first-15-mlb-starts-to-tom-seavers

Harvey's off to a great start, no doubt. Based on about a half-season of starts in his career ( small sample ) you can get to a 14-10 record 198 IP, 232 K's all good solid numbers. Even better for a 23-year old who is 6-4, 235 lbs. From there we can project further. He is, after all, only 23 years old. He can only get better, right? Well, no not really, but it's easier and more fun to project from that premise.

Pitching
Year	Team	G	GS	W	L	SV	BS	HLD	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	BAA
2012	NYM	10	10	3	5	0	0	0	0	0	59.1	42	19	18	5	26	70	2.73	1.15	.200
2013	NYM	6	6	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	40.1	21	7	7	2	12	46	1.56	0.82	.153
Career		16	16	7	5	0	0	0	0	0	99.2	63	26	25	7	38	116	2.26	1.01	.182

"He can only get better". Maybe after potential, the most damning words that can be laid on a prospect. And "projection" is a word that in hindsight gets scouts and analysts in as much trouble as the word  "potential" gets a player into.

Because the players' "perceived potential" flows naturally from the "expectations" put onto them that flow from the scouts / analysts "faulty projections". And who gets burned publicly? Not the scout or the analysts. The player who didn't live up to the "flawed analysis", that's who.

Because let's face it, in the entire range of possibilities three things can happen. He can progress or get better and that's where the mind's first reflex goes to wander. But he can also get worse (GASP!!) or remain virtually the same (DULL, no projection!?!). We never consider the other two possibilities as much. There's no fun in that.

from Yahoo Sports:
 http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/ten-surprises-first-month-2013-baseball-season-203335280.html

4. Matt Harvey owns April: Savvy baseball pundits knew a Matt Harvey breakthrough year was a possibility, but that doesn't discount the fact that he's been the breakout star of the first month of the season. On an otherwise boring New York Mets pitching staff, the 24-year-old Harvey has been pitching more like Stephen Strasburg than Stephen Strasburg has. Harvey is 4-0 and is in the top five for strikeouts, ERA and WHIP.

I know everybody wants to be recognized as the first to "call" this guy the next whoever or whatever. It drives traffic and gets your name in the paper and junk as the "next" prospect guru, but... let's just see if the kid can be the first Matt Harvey, shall we? 

Comparisons to Seaver right out of the chute are a bit unfair to the kid. Give him time to be himself NY.

IMO, Seaver and that Ryan kid on the far right of that photo shown above were the two closest things to the "perfect pitcher" model that Tom House tried to pigeon-hole Mark Prior into. And we see how that went....good for Tom House, not so good for Mark Prior.

Talk about flawed analysis and unreasonable expectations.