Even with the crackdown on foreign substances, the light shines brighter on Jacob DeGrom. He has built up a huge season already and has reached a level baseball has not seen since Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. At this point in the year, these look like something out of MLB: The Show.
Keep in mind that DeGrom is still battling injury issues, something the New York Mets are struggling with in their pitching department a little bit. Over 70 innings pitched and the earned run average is 0.50. It's a statistic the Mets are number one at. A testament to the pitching. Martinez had a couple years where it was under two. That's impressive, but DeGrom's stuff now is even more stunning. The innings will probably not reach what Johnson and Martinez did due to longevity and the persistence of using bullpens, but you still have a guy who can get over 200 innings of work.
Strikeout wise, DeGrom is more comparable to Martinez. Anything above 250 is excellent and if he can stay healthy, can reach that mark again and again. The Cy Young awards help. However, the win loss record is something to keep eye on. At the time of this, he is 77 and 53 overall His best season was a 15 win 2017 season. I don't know how things would be calculated, but there is still the opportunity to reach the Hall of Fame. But given the writers and the Clark family, he could get screwed over.
You could still make an argument of DeGrom being the best pitcher in the league. Right now, he is. But Max Scherzer of Washington may be one to keep eyes on. His ERA is not to where DeGrom is, but he is a strikeout and innings machine. Also gets a lot more wins, something the Mets don't get to their starters due to their inability to hold leads or score sufficient runs. Who do you think is the dominant pitcher in baseball?
No comments:
Post a Comment