Ryan Minor talks about Hunter Harvey and today's pitching matchup

SALISBURY, Md. - Delmarva Shorebirds manager Ryan Minor knows a little something about top pitching prospects taking the mound for his team. The skipper of the Shorebirds, the Orioles' low Single-A affiliate, managed Dylan Bundy when he buzzed through here two years ago, pitching 30 innings, allowing just five hits and no earned runs with 40 strikeouts. Hunter Harvey may not put numbers quite that good, but he is off to a good start for this year's Shorebirds team. Today at 5:05 p.m., Harvey takes the mound for his third start in Game 1 of a doubleheader. His opponent is the Lucas Giolito of the Hagerstown Suns, the Nationals' No. 1 prospect. It's a marquee pitching matchup of young guns. Is that radar gun ready to go? Minor has seen a lot of minor league baseball as a player and manager, but even he is quite interested for this matchup. "I'm excited," Minor said this afternoon. "You know, it is exciting when you have two guys that are that highly thought of pitching against each other. Sometimes when you have a No. 1 pick as a pitcher and hitter going against each other, there is some buzz. "I'm excited to see it. You don't see it very often and I know the fans are excited even though there probably won't be a lot of people here with the cold weather. Know a lot of people around baseball will be following it." Harvey, ranked as baseball's No. 43 prospect by ESPN, is 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA. He pitched 10 scoreless innings to start his season before giving two runs in the fifth his last time out. Harvey is 1-1 with a 1.52 ERA in 41 1/3 pro innings with nine walks and 51 strikeouts since the O's selected him 22nd overall last June. Giolito, ranked No. 21 by ESPN and Baseball America, has a fastball that has been clocked at 100 mph. He is the Nationals' No. 1 prospect and is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in his first two starts. The No. 16 overall pick in 2012, Giolito pitched five scoreless innings in his last start. What has Minor seen from Harvey so far? "Good stuff. He's done a very good job of commanding his fastball, competing and throwing his breaking ball in good counts," Minor said. "For a 19-year-old kid, his stuff is as advanced as we've seen here in a while." Does he stack up with other top prospects he's seen in the South Atlantic League over the years? "Yeah, he's right at the top," Minor said. "You know, Dylan Bundy came here and put some outstanding numbers and he's going to do the same thing. He'll do really well in this league as long as he continues to do his work between starts. He is a guy that is going to progress and I think he'll move pretty quick." Check back here for the game blog around first pitch and I'll provide updates on Harvey and Giolito from Perdue Stadium.