Harvey is the 212th former Northwoods League player to debut in MLB
Rochester, Minn. – Former Brainerd Lakes Area Lunker Joe Harvey, made his Major League debut for the New York Yankees on Wednesday, April 10, 2019. Harvey is the 212th former Northwoods League player to reach the Major League level.
Harvey, who played collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh, played for the Brainerd Lakes Area Lunkers in 2011. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 19th round of the 2014 MLB draft.
In four games with the Lunkers during the 2011 season, Harvey was 0-1 with a 7.50 ERA. He struck out 10 batters in 12 innings pitched.
Harvey began his minor league career in 2014 with the Yankees Rookie Level team in the Gulf Coast League. After two games he was promoted to the State Island Yankees of the Short-Season A New York-Penn League. Between the two clubs he was a combined 0-2 with a 1.74 ERA in 15 games. He struck out 19 batters in 20.2 innings pitched and walked only five.
Harvey spent the entire 2015 season in the Lo-A South Atlantic League with the Charleston RiverDogs. He would once again appear in 15 games and was 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA. He pitched 17 innings and struck out 21 while walking eight.
For the 2016 season, Harvey started the year in the Gulf Coast League and then went back to Staten Island but his season was cut short when he required Tommy John surgery in June of that year. He appeared in 11 games and was 0-1 with a 0.84 ERA. He walked only four batters and struck out 19 in 21.1 innings pitched.
In 2017 he moved up to the Tampa Yankees of the Hi-A Florida State League. He would appear in 18 games with Tampa and had a 1-0 record with a 1.05 ERA. He struck out a career high 29 batters in 25.2 innings and walked eight.
Harvey pitched with two teams during the 2018 season. He began the year with the Trenton Thunder of the AA Eastern League. After five games in Trenton he moved up to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the AAA International League. Between the two clubs he was 3-2 with a 1.67 ERA in 43 games. He struck out a new career high 68 batters in 59.1 innings.
Prior to being called up by the Yankees, Harvey had appeared in two games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and had not allowed a run or a hit in 2.1 innings pitched.
In his Major League debut against the Houston Astros, Harvey entered the game in the 5th inning in relief of Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle. He would go on to pitch two innings and allow only one hit and one walk while striking out three.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 25-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 200 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
