Who is Matt Harvey, Why Was He Suspended, His Girlfriend, Salary and Other Facts

Matt Harvey is a professional baseball player who currently plays for the Major League Baseball Team Cincinnati Reds.

Harvey, who plays as a pitcher, previously worked for the New York Mets, where Sports Illustrated Magazine nicknamed him The Dark Night after comparisons between him and Batman.

Matt Harvey Biography

Matthew Edward Harvey was born in New London, Connecticut, on 27 March 1989, the son of Jackie and Ed Harvey. His father, Ed, who worked as a teacher and coached the Fitch Senior High School baseball team, his alma mater, was an athlete who played college baseball and football, most notably in the 1972 College World Series.

Harvey attended Fitch Senior High School, where his parents were teachers. He played for his father on the school baseball team and also played on the school basketball team. In his senior year, Harvey was considered a draft pick in the first round because the renowned baseball magazine Baseball America ranked him as the best high school prospect.

Things didn’t turn out the way the young athletes had hoped, as he was ranked 118th by the Los Angeles Angels in the third round of the 2007 MLB Draft. So instead of going into the league with uncertainty about the rest of his career, Harvey decided to go to the University of North Carolina (UNC) and play college baseball.

Matt Harvey then played for UNC Tar Heels, where he played for school for three seasons before turning pro in 2010. This time he was selected by the New York Mets as their seventh player.

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After a few appearances with some teams in the lower league, Harvey was finally added to the Mets list as the fifth player for the 2012 campaign. He made his debut on 26 July 2012 in a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He ended his rookie season with a 3-5 record and a deserved run average of 2.73 in which he scored 70 strikeouts.

In his second season, Harvey continued to impress with his arm strength and control, prompting his team manager to say he had the potential to become the Mets’ best pitcher. Injuries and inefficiency, however, prevented the star player from meeting the high demands placed on him. He underwent Tommy-John surgery, Thoracic-Outlet Syndrome, and had a stress fracture in his shoulder blade that required surgery. All this limited his performances, which at times lasted more than a season.

The Mets finally transferred Harvey to the Cincinnati Reds in May 2018, where he is currently competing.

Why Was Matt Harvey Suspended

Matt Harvey was suspended by the New York Mets for three games without pay on 7 May 2017 for violation of team rules. It turned out that Harvey didn’t show up for a Mets game because he had been partying late the day before. However, the suspension was not a direct result of missing a game, but rather of a compilation of the player’s problems that had dragged on for two years.

Salary

Matt Harvey currently has a one-year contract for $5,625,000 for 2018, after which he would become an unrestricted free agent. Previously he was paid $4,325,000 in 2016 and $5,125,000 in 2017.

Matt Harvey’s Girlfriend

Despite all the problems Matt Harvey had on the field, he didn’t let his taste in women influence him, as he dates top models and TV personalities who accidentally landed him in gossip columns.

It’s not clear which model the New York Mets pitcher is currently dating, but recently he has been associated with TV personality Lo Bosworth and Polish-Ukrainian Instagram model Kristina Krishka, having previously dated Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima, Anne Vyalitsyna, AniaCywinska, Ashley Haas, and many others.

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Harvey and Lima were very open-minded when the couple was spotted at the River Yacht Club in Miami in March 2017, where they were reportedly very comfortable together and shared kisses that everyone could see. But the relationship soon hit the headlines after she allegedly left him without warning for her ex.

Other Facts

Matt Harvey is the only son and the youngest child of his parents. He has two older sisters, Jessica and Jocelyn. Growing up he was a big fan of the New York Yankees and had the legendary Derek Jeter and Paul O’Neil as his idols.

In high school, Matt Harvey was a teammate of future Major League Baseball pitcher Jesse Hahn before going on to college baseball and studying sports administration at the UNC.

In his major league baseball debut, Matt Harvey set a franchise record for the New York Mets for the most strikeouts in a game. He was also the first player in modern history to beat 10 or more batters and score two goals in his Major League debut with a total of 18 strikeouts, which was also a Mets record for a newcomer.

He was voted All-Star in 2013 and crowned Comeback Player of the Year in the National League in 2015.