Our old pal Ken Harvey is back in Kansas City. Luckily for Royals fans, there will be a state line and about 23 miles between Harvey and Kauffman Stadium.
Harvey has spent the last couple of years since the Royals gave up on him battling a string of injuries. He didn't play at all in 2006, had 35 at-bats in the Twins' farm system last year and had 21 at-bats for a team in Mexico this year.
Harvey is a nice guy, still only 30 years old, and he's not a hard guy to root for. Still, he was emblematic of the Allard Baird Royals, unable to sustain success, unable to plug major holes in his game. He skirted through the minors on the basis of tremendous batting averages. However all the secondary skills were lacking -- little power and no patience. He couldn't run and wasn't much of a fielder. Everything he did looked unorthodox and when he was going well, it was fun. When he wasn't going so good, however, it was painful to watch.
For Harvey to have any chance at getting back into affiliated baseball, he's got turn into more of a take-and-rake hitter. That means working the count and looking for inside pitches to turn on with the power stroke you'd expect a 240-pound first baseman to have. Unfortunately, if he hasn't shown these base skills by now, it's not likely he's going to.
For the T-Bones, however, it's a great move. If healthy, Harvey should almost certainly be one of the league's best hitters.
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