Struggling Harvey frustrated with mechanics

New York Mets right-hander Matt Harvey has an idea why he's off to a slow start, and he believes his recent struggles all come down to mechanical issues with his delivery.

"Right now, I'm not feeling good with my mechanics. I'm not feeling good throwing the ball," Harvey told reporters after a 3-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday. "It's frustrating. I think I've said it before: I'm the one who is most frustrated here about what's going on. It's been a frustrating start, but we have a long way to go."

During the first six starts of his season, Harvey's ERA has risen to a career high 4.76 and he's allowed more hits (42) than innings pitched (34).

He won't, however, use being overworked and pitching 216 innings in 2015 - his first since returning from Tommy John surgery - as an excuse.

"I don't think so," Harvey said when asked if being used too heavily last season is contributing to his struggles. "I hadn't really looked into that. My body doesn't feel bad. I don't feel tired. I don't feel any downside from the workload last year. I think it's, right now, I'm just in a little funk with my mechanics. We're working to get rid of that."

One potential area of concern is the right-hander's velocity, which has lowered more than a full mile-per-hour on all of his pitches since last season, according to FanGraphs.

"He hit 95 tonight a couple of times and might have even hit 96 once or twice," Mets manager Terry Collins explained of Harvey's dip in velocity. "Because he usually pitches at 96, 97, we think there's something wrong. And I'm not sure there is. He and (pitching coach Dan Warthen) are trying to straighten out a couple of things. He's throwing quite a bit on the side to try to get a feel for his release point and a feel for what they're trying to do. It doesn't just happen overnight."