Matt Harvey made his Cincinnati Reds debut on Friday night in Los Angeles. Taking on the Dodgers, he was rather dominant. He only allowed one hit, and it shouldn’t have been. Scott Schebler lost an easy fly ball in the lights and it fell in for a triple. That was it. The only baserunner that Harvey allowed. He didn’t walk anyone, and he struck out two batters over 4.0 innings.
Matt Harvey last made a start on April 19th. He pitched in four games out of the Mets bullpen before being traded. The Reds decided to keep him on a bit of a low pitch count. He had thrown just 2.0 innings and 39 pitches since April 30th. Harvey would throw 55 pitches and 32 of them went down as strikes.
It’s one start, and in a large ballpark out on the west coast, but Matt Harvey may be the best Reds pitcher of all time. No? Ok, clearly that’s not true. But, it’s a good start for the newest pitcher on the staff. Hopefully the Reds coaching staff and Harvey were able to figure some things out that will let him continue along a similar path, and differentiate the version he showed the last two seasons with the Mets.
Brandon Dixon shows off the power for Louisville
Brandon Dixon has been having a fine season for Triple-A Louisville in 2018. He nearly made the team out of spring training, but the Reds opted to send him to play for the Bats. In 28 games played this season he’s hitting .317/.355/.495. He has also stolen eight bases in 10 attempts.
On Friday night he hit what, at least for right now, seems to be the longest home run hit by a Cincinnati Reds minor league player this season. Take a look at the video:
That baseball landed near the top of the bushes in dead center field. The video makes the bushes appear closer to the fence than they really are. They are 30-35 feet beyond the wall. And elevated.
The Bats officially called it at 446 feet. That was not a Trackman estimate. In Louisville they’ve got an estimation chart based on where the ball lands – but based on what I’ve seen, it’s pretty accurate.