Harvey happy with debut appearance and role

SARASOTA, Fla. - The first spring outing for Hunter Harvey confirmed a couple of important points.

The illness that shut him down in camp didn't hurt his velocity, and high winds are murder on a mullet.

Harvey tossed a scoreless seventh inning yesterday afternoon against the Rays, a one-out single unable to leave a mark. Brian O'Grady directed a ground ball into right field and Austin Wynns threw him out attempting to steal.

The radar gun at Ed Smith Stadium had Harvey's fastball consistently at 95 mph or higher and topping out at 97, which is more than acceptable for a debut.

"Felt good," Harvey said afterward while standing outside the baseball operations building. "Trying to get everything under control and control the butterflies and just attack."

And pretty much ignore the radar readings.

Asked whether he focuses on them, Harvey replied, "At this point, no. I'm just trying not to pull off my off-speed and trying not to walk guys and attack the zone."

He did attack, getting a called third strike on Daniel Robertson to start the inning.

There won't be the other kind of starts for Harvey. He's purely a reliever now, which changes his spring training.

The Orioles don't need to build up as many innings for Harvey. The goal isn't to get him through the fourth or fifth.

"It's a little different knowing I might go two innings," he said. "Most outings are just going to be one instead of, 'We're going to build you up this year.' So in that case it's a little different, but you've still got to pitch and do the same things."

Manager Brandon Hyde isn't defining Harvey's role, including whether the right-hander and former first-round pick is getting the first shot at closing. He also hasn't stated whether Harvey is going to be limited to one inning.

"They haven't really told me anything," said Harvey, who's on the field today for morning workouts, "but sometimes you've got to go back out there for another inning, so always prepare for that, just in case."

Bullpen life suits Harvey. Maybe it's in his blood. His father, Bryan, was an All-Star closer in the majors.

Given the chance to start again, he'd likely go along with it as a team player. But he clearly wants to remain a reliever.

It's the adrenaline.

"Yeah, I enjoy it," he said. "I like getting that rush when the phone rings and they call your name. That's another rush."

Harvey was shut down in September as a precaution, his injury history a logical reason to lay off him. But he's been healthy through the winter and the first three weeks of spring training. A stretch that has eluded him for more years than he'd like to count.

"It was nice," he said. "I've been waiting for the fully healthy offseason and season for a long time, so to finally do that and come into spring healthy and ready to go, it's good."

Only a physical setback would keep Harvey off the opening day roster. He's making the team.

He just won't surrender to the security, insisting that he still has to earn the spot.

"It's my goal every spring," he said. "Hasn't changed since I've been coming to camp."Neither has his hair, unless it's how the mullet seems to become more spectacular after he goes back to North Carolina.

The weather conditions can be a hassle, like the wind yesterday that kept pushing it forward.

"Getting in my face a lot, so that's going to be a problem," he said, smiling. "We'll figure it out."