Matt Harvey is a native of Connecticut.
However, he has Italian heritage, enough reason and incentive for him to play for the Italian national baseball team in the World Baseball Classic.
At this point, Harvey was obviously not making the American team: he hasn’t been successful or even decent at the MLB level for a while.
However, that doesn’t mean he can’t be part of the tournament.
Thanks to his grandfather, he is representing Italy in the WBC.
As it turns out, he can’t be happier about it.
Matt Harvey says playing for Team Italy has meant the world to his grandfather. 🥹 pic.twitter.com/NNK7i4touY
— theScore (@theScore) March 9, 2023
Finding out that his grandfather actually got up early to watch his grandson pitch for the country he loves is the kind of wholesome content we need to consume.
Italy started off on the right foot, as they surprisingly beat the favored Cuba.
Harvey was the starting pitcher and threw three scoreless innings as his team beat Cuba 6-3 on Thursday.
The right-hander wasn’t particularly impressive, however, topping out at just 90.2 mph on the radar gun.
Still, he found a way to be successful and get outs, working around two hits and a walk to get nine valuable outs.
He didn’t strike out anyone, but Italy will definitely take his outing and be thankful for the increased chances of actually getting out of the first round.
Harvey is certainly hoping he pitches again in the Classic, because it probably would mean that Italy advanced to the next round.
Let’s see if Italy actually has what it takes to make that happen.
NEXT:
Mets Legend Took Home A Win For Team Italy
