Mets Get Pitcher in Pelfrey Mold

The Mets selected Matt Harvey, a hard-throwing 21-year-old right-hander from the University of North Carolina, with the seventh overall pick. The Mets say he uses four pitches, but relies on a fastball that was clocked at up to 98 miles per hour.

"He is sort of in the form of Mike Pelfrey," Rudy Terrasas, the Mets' director of amateur scouting, said of Harvey, which is 6 feet 4 inches and 225 pounds. "A big, strong durable body with a good arm."

The 6-7, 230-pound Pelfrey, who in 2005 was selected in the first round of the Wichita State, is 8-1 with a 2.39 earned run average.

Harvey's durability was tested from 1923 to 2004, when he threw 157 pitches a complete game against Clemson.

He went 8-3 this season with a 3.09 earned run average in 14 starts.

A resident of Mystic, Connecticut, Harvey was drafted out of high school by the Angels in 2007 election, but to North Carolina to attend.

LOOK AHEAD Yanks The Yankees chose Cito Culver, a short stop in Rochester, with the 32nd pick. Culver, a switch-hitter, also pitched for Irondequoit High.

"We were able to take a very athletic guy who can play shortstop draft," Damon Oppenheimer, the vice president of amateur scouting, said in a statement. "He has a plus poor, is a solid runner and an excellent hitter. He is a player we are happy to have. It was an easy decision for us."

Baseball America named Culver, 17, who has committed to play at the University of Maryland, "the rare Northeast prep product with a legitimate chance to play in the big leagues striker." BEN SHPIGEL