Former housemates Mets’ Matt Harvey, Royals’ Eric Hosmer prep for World Series showdown

Mets right-hander Matt Harvey and Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer won a World Series together eight years ago.

Of course, the 2007 Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, N.M., which Harvey and Hosmer won as part of the Cincinnati-based Midland amateur baseball empire, is a far cry from the spectacle set to unfold Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium.

“Matt was mowing them down, and Eric was hitting them out,” said Midland assistant coach Brian Hiler, who welcomed Hosmer, Harvey and Red Sox infielder Deven Marrero into his home that summer. “It was a nice little combination we had.”

There was no way to know back then that Harvey, who will start Game 1 of the World Series, and Hosmer — teenage baseball prodigies who spent the summer doing yardwork and playing Xbox when not on the diamond — would cross paths again on baseball’s biggest stage.

“Just the Connie Mack World Series, I don’t think we ever dreamed about being in the World Series, especially facing each other,” Hosmer said. “It sounds like kind of a long shot at that point in time, but it’s here, it’s crazy, and I know a lot of people in Cincinnati will enjoy watching the first game.”

Harvey was an 18-year-old Connecticut native in 2007, wrestling with whether to sign as the Angels’ third-round pick or pitch for North Carolina, when he met Hosmer, a 17-year-old Miami native who’d become the Royals’ first-round pick a year later.

“It was a pretty awesome summer, and we became pretty good friends,” said Harvey, who is 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA in two starts this postseason. “I think we were more excited at the time to be going to the World Series — the Connie Mack World Series — at the time. … I didn’t know if I was going to go to college or play pro ball, so thinking of playing in the World Series at that time was definitely not in our minds.”

Now in opposing dugouts, Harvey and Hosmer will square off early in the opening game of the World Series.

Hiler was on the way Monday from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Cincinnati, where he planned to run a load of laundry before hopping back in the car for the drive to Kansas City.

“I’m hoping like crazy there’s enough coffee in this world for me to make it,” he said.

Hiler understands it could be difficult watching Hosmer, who was the MVP of the 2007 Connie Mack World Series, battle Harvey — who picked up two victories, including the win for the championship against the East Cobb (Ga.) Yankees.

“Pins and needles, man — it’s not going to be easy,” Hiler said. “It’s like a parent watching your two kids fight in the backyard.”

Boys will be boys.

Hosmer remembers Harvey, who admitted it will be a fun matchup, as intense and gifted.

“He’s a guy that, when the stage is at its biggest, like it is now, he wants to be on it,” Hosmer said.

He also doesn’t expect the matchup with Harvey to be too weird, because “that team has produced so many major-league players and I’ve faced so many guys that have been on that team.”

Hosmer regularly crosses paths with Detroit catcher James McCann, who also played on that Midland team, so he’s adjusted to the phenomenon.

“It really wasn’t weird,” said Hosmer, who is batting .339 with two doubles, two home runs and 10 RBIs in 15 games with McCann catching. “You say ‘hello’ or whatever, but once it’s game time, it’s game time and everyone’s locked in.”

As hard as they might try to downplay it, Harvey’s and Hosmer’s adopted hometown knows how emotional the battle shapes up to be.

“Everybody in Cincinnati who knows they played together is going bonkers,” Hiler said.

This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 8:45 PM with the headline "Former housemates Mets’ Matt Harvey, Royals’ Eric Hosmer prep for World Series showdown."