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PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Easy gas.
Those may be the two most intriguing words in baseball, and on this perfect Florida night, Matt Harvey, the Mets’ top pitching prospect, is letting it go.
Harvey annihilates the first 13 batters he faces on his way to nine strikeouts over 6 **1/3** innings for the St. Lucie Mets against the Bradenton Marauders, allowing only a quiet single up the middle.
Dick Scott, the Mets’ new minor league field coordinator, calls it one of the best minor league performances he has ever seen. What makes Harvey special is not just the right arm that throws a four-seam fastball in the mid to upper 90s, a late-breaking curveball, sinker, slider and a developing changeup, but also that his makeup is off the charts.
Watch him pitch and you see the kind of focus the Mets run up against when they face the likes of Phillies ace Roy Halladay.
Easy gas. Hard determination.
Harvey, 22, does not want to just win. He wants to dominate. He is never satisfied. In that way, it is fitting that his favorite player is Paul O’Neill.
“I play the game to win, I play the game hard, the way it should be played,” Harvey told The Post. “I want to be great, and I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen. I’m never satisfied.
“I loved Paul O’Neill’s approach and the way he would get so mad at himself. He felt that he needed to be perfect every time, and I loved that.”
Harvey knows pitching requires a different mentality because “if you get too mad at yourself, you tense up,” but he brings a rare competitive spirit to the mound.
Because of a structural problem with the Bradenton ballpark, home of the Pirates’ affiliate, this Florida State League game had to be moved to the Rays’ Single-A facility. As a result, just 20 fans are in the park for the first pitch. It doesn’t matter to Harvey. He is focused, eyes peering over the top of his glove as he begins his smooth windup.
The Marauders handed Harvey his first professional loss the last time out, so Harvey is determined to excel. The first batter, Robbie Grossman, swings through a curveball for Harvey’s first strikeout. Harvey continues to mow down the lineup, and when the 6-foot-4, 210-pound right-hander is removed from the game because of a rising pitch count, he storms off the mound, clearly not wanting to leave.
Once in the dugout, he fires his cap onto the bench and stalks around for a few minutes. He soon calms down and heads to the top railing to support his teammates. After Harvey exits, the Mets’ 2-0 lead evaporates and St. Lucie winds up losing, 5-2.
Harvey, who grew up in Mystic, Conn., once threw 157 pitches in a game for North Carolina to beat Clemson. His final pitch that day was clocked at 96 mph and produced his 15th strikeout.
“I woke up the next morning and had no idea I threw the day before,” Harvey said of his golden arm, which he said has never been sore.
In six starts with St. Lucie, he is 4-1 with a 1.10 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 32 **2/3** innings.
“He gets everything over,” said pitching coach Phil Regan, who pitched 13 seasons in the majors. “He’s one of the few that has stepped right out of college and can handle it. He is just wise beyond his years.”
Harvey has a unique mental approach to pitching.
“I always put a game inside a game,” Harvey said. “I face nine hitters in their first at-bats. I play nine games. The first hitter is my first game, the second hitter is my second game and right on through.”
That approach narrows his focus. He came up with this approach during his junior year at North Carolina after a poor sophomore season (5.40 ERA), and it made a big difference.
“One pitch at a time really focused, and I found out I was lasting seven, eight innings easily,” Harvey said. “The biggest thing for me is learning from each start.”
To do that, Harvey picks the brain of older hitters. Being a coach’s son he knows you never stop learning.
“I used to bug the heck out of my dad,” he said with a smile.
Ed Harvey, 60, was a top high school coach in Connecticut at Fitch-Groton and now is an assistant coach at UConn-Avery Point. He was a star receiver and center fielder for UConn who played in the 1972 College World Series. He has coached all types of athletes, but he never has seen one as composed as his son.
“He has that mental toughness you never have to worry about,” said Ed Harvey, who is quick to share credit with his wife, Jacquelyn, for Matt’s development. Matt’s older sisters, Jocelyn and Jessica, also were great athletes.
“I’ve always been amazed at his focus, even at a young age,” Ed said.
That focus was on display when Matt was a high school freshman and Fitch faced powerhouse Norwich Free Academy.
“They were the mecca of high school baseball in Connecticut at that time,” Matt recalled.
Matt had the freshest arm on the team, so he was tabbed to pitch against the senior-laden opponent. Just before the game Ed checked with his son to make sure Matt was fine with taking on such a huge start at such a young age.
“You OK with this?” Ed asked.
Matt looked his father in the eye and said, “Don’t ever ask me that question again.”
The freshman struck out NFA slugger Eric Campbell — who now plays for the Mets’ Double-A affiliate in Binghamton — on a 3-2 curveball with runners on second and third for a crucial out and went on to a complete-game victory.
“And from then I just kind of took off,” Harvey said. “It was definitely cool. Everyone from the town came to that game.”
At North Carolina, Harvey was 22-7 with a 3.73 ERA over three years. He was the seventh overall pick of the 2010 draft, signing with the Mets for $2.525 million.
“Playing at North Carolina was unbelievable, but having the opportunity to go to school there was so special, and being part of the Carolina way is unbelievable,” Harvey said. “From the gymnastics to the soccer to the basketball, football and especially baseball, when you say Carolina, you say class.”
The adjustment to pro ball has been smooth.
“I’m surprised how good my arm has felt,” Harvey said. “I feel stronger than I ever have, more locked in than I ever have.”
Talent evaluators believe Harvey is ticketed for the big leagues before long.
“Matt Harvey is going to zoom through the Mets system,” said a scout from another National League team.
Scott, a former infielder who played 10 years in the Yankees and A’s organizations, including making it to the majors with the 1989 world champion A’s, and was the Blue Jays’ director of player development from 2001-2009, is similarly impressed with the standout farmhand.
“He has his eyes on the goal,” he said.
Harvey could be up with the Mets before the end of this season, but there is no rush as long as the franchise stays in rebuilding mode. The Mets say they will be patient with his development in spite of the pressure these days to rush young pitchers to the majors. Harvey will be promoted to Binghamton in the near future, and from there anything is possible.
When Harvey arrives, he wants Citi Field to be his home for a long time.
“I will stick with my approach of focusing on each start,” Harvey said. “If I do that, everything will be fine. I don’t think too far ahead. All I can say is I hate to lose.”
A big winner for the Mets is just around the corner. Easy gas. Hard determination. The perfect combination.