Boras believes 'unknown' factor affecting Harvey

While New York Mets right-hander Matt Harvey believes his early-season struggles are related to issues with his mechanics, his agent has a different opinion that makes the pitcher's situation sound a bit more serious.

"There's something unknown that we're looking at," Scott Boras told Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. "There's an unknown here that’s operating. We're figuring it out as we go. I'm very confident that Matt is physically healthy and very confident that adjustments will be made."

Harvey, who has experienced a decrease in velocity, pitched 216 innings - including the playoffs - in 2015, his first season since returning from Tommy John surgery.

And while Boras put up quite the stink about limiting Harvey's innings last season, the super agent seems optimistic the unknown he speaks of could be a good thing for his client.

"Unknowns create strengths," Boras said. "When Greg Maddux faced an unknown, that caused him to develop his cutter. Once he developed that cutter, he went on to become a multiple Cy Young Award winner."

During the first six starts of Harvey's season, his ERA has risen to a career high 4.76 and he's allowed more hits (42) than innings pitched (34), while his strikeout rate has dropped from 8.9 to 6.6 hitters per nine innings.