What happened to Matt Harvey?

Likely in an attempt to boost his velocity, but perhaps because it's what everybody (now) teaches, Matt Harvey incorporated a common shortcut or trick, which I call the Tommy John Twist, into his arm action.

The problem is that trick, which is taught using the cue to Point the Ball at Second Base or Center Field, works by creating a Timing problem.

That Timing problem first got Matt Harvey's elbow and then got his shoulder.

As so often happens.

What's worse, Matt Harvey's problems were obvious from the beginning.

Matt Harvey is back to his old self, and that should be a real cause for concern for Mets fans. Same problems exist. pic.twitter.com/ss111iTdOM

— Chris O'Leary (@thepainguy) August 7, 2014

I saw Matt Harvey's problems coming well in advance, as is shown by my...

• Tweeted Predictions About Matt Harvey

This is an overview of what happened to Matt Harvey. For more detail, see my...

• Analysis of Matt Harvey's Pitching Mechanics

What Happened to Matt Harvey

I have personal experience with Matt Harvey and know what he was taught and why that was problematic.

Flaws

To sum up, Matt Harvey had four flaws in his pitching mechanics.

• Point the Ball at Second Base
• Tommy John Twist
• Power T
• Timing Problem

Point the Ball at Second Base

The root cause of Matt Harvey's problems is a — very common — cue that is taught as...

• Point the Ball at Second Base or Center Field

Tommy John Twist

The problem with teaching pitchers to Point the Ball to...

• Second Base
• Center Field

is that it can lead to a problematic, and increasingly common, pattern that I call the...

• Tommy John Twist

Power T

I once read a piece in which Matt Harvey described wanting his arm action to be as long as possible, which I led to a problem I call the...

• Power T

Timing Problem

The Tommy John Twist is a problem because, and only when, it creates a problem with a pitcher's...

• Timing

Predictions

Why should you believe me?

Because Matt Harvey's problems were no surprise to me; as soon as I saw his major league pitching mechanics, I knew he was going to struggle to stay healthy.

And I said so, repeatedly, via my Twitter account @thepainguy.

If you want to know what I said about Matt Harvey's pitching mechanics, you can search Twitter or just look at the Tweets below.

Every time I stumble across this pic, my stomach does a flip. Matt Harvey has not fixed his underlying issues. Worse? pic.twitter.com/5dmlXZfo1k

— Chris O'Leary | Baseball (@thepainguy) May 13, 2014

Matt Harvey is back to his old self, and that should be a real cause for concern for Mets fans. Same problems exist. pic.twitter.com/ss111iTdOM

— Chris O'Leary | Baseball (@thepainguy) August 7, 2014

With respect to my recent Matt Harvey tweats, while this is very commonly taught, it's hard on the elbow & shoulder. pic.twitter.com/ORuRCSrEM9

— Chris O'Leary | Baseball (@thepainguy) August 13, 2014

. @DMaus14 Best case Harvey's elbow lasts a few years then goes again. Worst case the shoulder goes. More here... https://t.co/rz69vIBaDl

— Chris O'Leary | Baseball (@thepainguy) December 5, 2014

Matt Harvey in perfect equal & opposite position. Problem is foot is almost down so he's gonna b late. #TimingMatters pic.twitter.com/6TbMzuc2Xb

— Chris O'Leary | Baseball (@thepainguy) March 9, 2015

. @SABRCoach Just a matter of time b4 Matt Harvey breaks down again. Nothing has changed so why will anything change? pic.twitter.com/K5Qj0vYNeH

— Chris O'Leary | Baseball (@thepainguy) April 18, 2015

Matt Harvey on 6.21.2015. He's still doing exactly same thing that got his elbow. Hopefully lasts a couple of years. pic.twitter.com/I1oZCdBBib

— Chris O'Leary | Baseball (@thepainguy) June 28, 2015

Matt Harvey is poster child for the Power T. Thus his elbow injury and more problems to come. https://t.co/hViwvBLi21 pic.twitter.com/Iqrh0oxOWa

— Chris O'Leary | Baseball (@thepainguy) July 12, 2015

The concern isn't (just) Matt Harvey's elbow it's his shoulder.

First it gets the elbow, then it gets the shoulder. https://t.co/YTyYMi5a59

— Chris O'Leary | Baseball (@thepainguy) September 5, 2015

When Matt Harvey breaks again, this is why. Didn't change anything after my 1st prediction. https://t.co/hViwvC2TqB pic.twitter.com/BhJSJD1mcG

— Chris O'Leary | Baseball (@thepainguy) April 7, 2016

Matt Harvey won't stop doing this https://t.co/hViwvC2TqB and it's going to cost him his career. pic.twitter.com/35M6kfqRqG

— Chris O'Leary | Baseball (@thepainguy) September 2, 2017

I tried, on multiple occasions, to alert Matt Harvey and his father to the problem, but they ignored me.

Unfortunately, Matt Harvey blocked me on Twitter.