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Jacob DeGrom In Midseason Form During Grapefruit League Debut

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Jacob DeGrom In Midseason Form During Grapefruit League Debut

Mandatory Credit: Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports

On Saturday morning, Mets manager Luis Rojas shocked absolutely no one when he said that ace Jacob deGrom would start for the Mets on opening night against the Nationals in Washington D.C. On Saturday afternoon, deGrom reminded everyone why he has earned that honor.

The Mets traveled down the Florida coast to take on the Astros at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, with deGrom making his first appearance of the spring. His line was very much a deGrom outing. He threw two innings, allowing one hit and one walk, while striking out three.

Most impressively, deGrom was throwing very hard, at one point registering 99, 100, and 99 mph on the radar gun on consecutive pitches. Most pitchers do not achieve that kind of velocity so early in spring training, but most pitchers are not Jacob deGrom.

On being tabbed as the opening day starter for third straight season, joining Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, and Johan Santana as the only Mets to start at least three opening days in a row, deGrom said:

“Any time that you get the nod for opening day is a huge honor, and I’ve said it before, every time you get mentioned with those guys, it’s an honor as well. I try to go out there and try to have fun and compete at the best of my ability. The main thing is having fun. When you’re mentioned with guys like that, it truly is an honor. It’s something I try not to think too much about because I try to keep things simple. The more it’s mentioned you start to think about it. It’s definitely a cool thing.”

DeGrom’s performance on Saturday afternoon, as well as his track record that includes the National League’s Cy Young award in both 2018 and 2019, has caught the attention of all of Major League Baseball, including his Mets’ teammates. In an article by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, closer Edwin Diaz said of deGrom, “I don’t think there’s another pitcher like him in the rest of the league. He’s from a different planet.”

David Wright calls deGrom the most competitive person he’s ever met. In DiComo’s article, there is a story of an event from this week in spring training, when deGrom challenged Michael Conforto to take some swings off of him in batting practice. Conforto obliged, and ended up hitting a home run off his team’s best pitcher. DeGrom asked Conforto to get back in the batter’s box, and Conforto hit another home run.

Conforto may want to savor those moments, because very few hitters ever have that kind of success against the Mets’ best hurler.

According to DiComo, deGrom’s dominance can be traced not only to his great “stuff” and arsenal of pitches, but also his cerebral approach that allows his to constantly make adjustments, from game-to-game, hitter-to-hitter, and pitch-to-pitch.

All of the above has led to deGrom’s becoming arguably the best pitcher in the game. His career WHIP is 1.047. He has a K/9 rate of 10.5, along with a BB/9 rate of 2.2. Over his seven-year career, he’s allowed less than one home run per nine innings, and he sports a glowing ERA of 2.61 and ERA+ of 150.

On his easy selection of deGrom as opening night starting pitcher, Rojas said, “Everybody knows he falls in that place,” Rojas said. “The rest of the pitchers here, the players look up to him.”

The fans do as well, and his outing on Saturday only enhanced the excitement for the start of the season, 25 days from today.

Jacob DeGrom In Midseason Form During Grapefruit League Debut

The post Jacob DeGrom In Midseason Form During Grapefruit League Debut first appeared on Metsmerized Online.

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