The New York Mets have had a solid face of their pitching staff for the past couple years with Matt Harvey. Harvey has embraced being the stud of the pitching staff and taken on the persona of the “Dark Knight.” However, there is serious trouble here in Gotham at the moment.

Harvey has had a less than stellar start to this 2016 MLB season. The Dark Knight holds a dismal 3-7 record, with a career high 6.08 ERA. Harvey’s 6.08 ERA is the fifth highest in all of baseball, which seems unthinkable for the Dark Knight.

Mets fans have referred to days in which Harvey pitches as “Harvey Day”, yet the Dark Knight has not lived up to the playbill. Harvey has just three quality starts out of the 10 starts he’s made this season. To make things even worse, Harvey has given up 73 hits in just 53.1 innings pitched.

Harvey’s arm was in question in earlier struggles; yet in his last start Tuesday against the Washington Nationals, his fastball topped off at 97 mph. Clearly velocity is not an issue here with the Dark Knight. A lot of his mistakes are being made with the location of his pitches. Harvey is known for having impressive command of all of his pitches, but in recent days he’s catching a lot of the plate.

The confidence has reached an all-time low, when Harvey left early to avoid talking to reporters following a loss Tuesday night. When you have the face of your franchise now running from the same spotlight he embraces, you know you have a serious problem. We have seen the time now where Harvey can’t take the criticism and may need a smaller spotlight to recapture his mojo. There is nothing wrong with working on your mechanics with a little less experienced competition. A brief minor league stint could be just what the Dark Knight needs.

The Mets (26-19, 1.5 GB) currently sit second in a tight NL East race behind the Nationals, with the Philadelphia Phillies (25-21, 3 GB) closely in third. New York is built to win now and is all in for a World Series championship this season. The Mets cannot afford the liability of not getting a quality start every fifth day from Harvey.

Therefore, Harvey should definitely spend some time in Las Vegas with the Triple-A affiliate. Logan Verrett holds a 3-1 record this season and has done a great job in making spot starts when needed. Verrett is more than equipped to fill in while the Dark Knight tries to find his mojo and get back to Gotham City.