When the season began, if I told you that a Mets starting pitcher was in the Rookie of the Year hunt, who would you have guessed?
The obvious answers are Rafael Montero and Noah Syndergaard. Well, Montero hasn’t had a good start to his big league career and we will have to wait until next year for a Syndergaard sighting. Jacob deGrom emerged out of nowhere to take Mets fans by storm with his pitching and his hair.
Back in spring deGrom’s name was thrown around as a potential mid-season call up to help out in the bullpen and possibly make some spot starts in August/September.
Well, after a couple of injuries to the starting rotation, deGrom was called up to make his debut at Citi Field against the New York Yankees. And that’s where deGrom took off. He wasted no time showing how good he is, going 7 innings allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts.
From there deGrom was the victim of bad luck and poor run support, as he started his career 0-4 before getting his first MLB win. After getting his first victory, deGrom took the league over and has been almost untouchable.
The original plan was for deGrom to make a couple spot starts with Dillon Gee gone and when Gee returned, one of deGrom or Montero would go to the bullpen with the other being sent back to Triple-A. DeGrom pitched so well in his audition that the Mets had no choice but to keep him in the rotation and send Montero back to Triple-A.
Currently, deGrom stands at 8-6 with a 2.62 ERA. He is on a stretch of 22 consecutive scoreless innings and has pitched at least seven innings in six of his last ten starts.
deGrom achieved all of this while being on an innings limit this season. Shoulder soreness did hit deGrom, causing him to miss a couple of starts during his hot stretch. But he got right back on the horse and has looked very good since. Those missed starts might hinder deGrom’s RoY candidacy.
The Rookie of the Year in the National League has emerged as a two man race, deGrom and Reds CF Billy Hamilton. It is very hard to compare a pitcher to hitter when determining any award, and the Rookie of the Year is no different.
These two have had good seasons, both emerging as future talents for their respective clubs. What separates these two is that fact that what deGrom is doing for the Mets as a pitcher has him at the top of the league ranks for a pitcher. Comparing two rookies is one thing, but when comparing them to the rest of their position, it is clear that what deGrom is doing makes him deserving of the Rookie of the Year.
The Mets have a chance to have a Gold-Glover and a Rookie of the Year in 2014. While it isn’t a playoff berth or a World Series, it does show what the future can hold when things go right.
JdG = RoY
I’m up for a little Hamilton bashing. Speed is the dude’s game, but he’s been thrown out 21 times in 76 attempts? Plus, a .298 OBP?
Meanwhile, Jacob has been degrominant. No contest!
Player 2: 13 HR, 38 RBI, 307/418/725 OPS+106, 313 wOBA, 102 wRC+, 382 PA
Player 3: 6 HR, 46 RBI, 298/367/667 OPS+ 87, 295 wOBA, 84 wRC+,568 PA
Both play a premium position. Which rookie would you want on your team now and for the future? I choose Player 2, TdA.
Unlisted Player 1 is his battery mate, and ROY hands down, Jacob deGrom! deGrominant, excellent word!
deGrominant!!!!! You win on that one Doug!!!!
#2
the game is all about the individual contest of batter versus pitcher. Who faced the most contests, and who won the most?
BH 568.
JDG 513.
On the whole, BH has *lost* those contests, producing a sub-replacement level numbers. On the whole, JDG has won in staggering fashion, with numbers that compare to the very best in baseball.
JDGrominent
It’s getting rather ridiculous that Billy Hamilton is the odds-on favorite seemingly everywhere outside of NY. MLB Network had this discussion the other day, and Sean Casey, who I usually like a lot, said it was Hamilton simply because he was a position player. Great analysis Mayor. I think Rosenthal picked Hamilton too because of his WAR, but admitted that it was almost entirely defense-driven and SBs. A mediocre stolen-base percentage and a hot glove should not be enough to toppled one of the best pitching performances of the year.
It seems that since Hamilton was the most talked about rookie (or one of the most talked about rookies) come out of spring, a decent year from him would earn him the ROY.
But I don’t think those people could have guess deGrom coming up and doing what he has done.
I feel as though the voters will acknowledge what deGrom has done and give him the ROY, but anything is possible.