Baltimore Orioles: Hunter Harvey to have Tommy John
By Ryan Schultz
One of the Baltimore Orioles top picks in the 2013 draft, Hunter Harvey, has battled injuries since signing with the team. Orioles General Manager Dan Duquette announced that he will have Tommy John surgery this year.
The Baltimore Orioles are a pitcher killing machine. Only a few years ago the Orioles traded Jake Arrieta to the Cubs, only to see him grow with that team and eventually win the Cy Young in 2015. Other notable top prospects to under-perform include Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman, who are still with the team. Although Bundy has found his role in the bullpen, the Orioles recently tested him out as a starter. Kevin Gausman is part of the Orioles rotation, but he hasn’t lit the world on fire either. None of these three stories is particularly gruesome for the Orioles pitchers, but they still seem to set a trend.
2013 first round pick, Hunter Harvey, may be the worst case of them all. During his short career he has already suffered a broken shin, flexor mass strain, and had surgery to repair a hernia. Earlier this season he was suffering from elbow soreness, but the organization decided to try to let him pitch through it with some minor rehab techniques. When he suffered a setback earlier this week, the team decided it was time to shut him down and have Tommy John surgery.
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A mixture of injuries and lack of performance have kept Harvey from advancing beyond the Single-A level of the minor leagues; this season Harvey has started just three games for the single A short season Aberdeen IronBirds. In those three games, he posted a 3.52 ERA. The highest number of games Harvey has started in a singe season is 17 in 2014 with the Delmarva Shorebirds. During that season he had a 3.18 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 29.0% strikeout rate; those numbers are pretty good, and while he was facing competition around his age. Now two years older, he hasn’t even advanced to that same minor league level.
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Is it time to call Harvey a bust? That remains uncertain, because we have seen many pitchers come back from Tommy John surgery and find their groove. Harvey’s numerous injuries rightfully cause concern both about him and about how the Orioles treat their pitchers. If he can make a comeback, it would be great news for the Orioles who are always struggling to find pitching. The bad news for Harvey is that it will be at least another year before he returns to pitching, which would make him 22 in single A and well behind the age curve.