Jacob deGrom and Robert Gsellman lead August pitching revival

While most people’s thoughts have turned to waiver deals and the 2019 roster, the Mets’ pitching is quietly putting together a fine month here in August. They rank second in the National League with a 3.25 ERA and they lead the league with a 1.113 WHIP. Perhaps most surprisingly of all is that they’re doing it with strong contributions from both the starters and relievers.

In 15 of their 21 games this month, their starting pitcher has turned in a Game Score of 50 or more. The starters have a 3.58 ERA so far in August, led by the dynamic one-two punch of Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler. In 29.2 IP this month, deGrom has allowed just 4 ER for a 1.21 ERA. He’s been just as stingy with the walks, as he’s surrendered just four free passes and has a 10.0 K/BB rate. Wheeler has been almost as good, as he checks in with a 1.38 ERA and a 6.0 K/BB rate. The one area where he bests deGrom is in WHIP, as Wheeler leads with a .0846 mark, .0030 better than deGrom.

The other starters haven’t been able to match these two but Jason Vargas has turned in solid outings his last two trips to the mound and Corey Oswalt had some trouble with the gopher ball but otherwise pitched well. After several troubling outings, Steven Matz put up a 5 IP, 2 ER outing his last time out. Noah Syndergaard has struggled with both hits allowed and baserunners going amok but even with those he has a 4.85 ERA here in August.

But even more surprising than the results of the starters has been the work put in by the bullpen. The relievers have generally been a train wreck since the heady days of early April. But here in the eighth month of the year, they’ve had a remarkable turnaround. They place second in the league in ERA (2.65) and are tops with a 1.059 WHIP. And that’s while ranking fifth in the league with 68 IP, just 2.1 IP shy of the league leaders.

Robert Gsellman leads five relievers who haven’t surrendered a run in August. In 9.2 IP, he’s allowed just four hits and a walk. He’s also picked up two saves in the month, one of three pitchers to earn a save as the club looks to replace Jeurys Familia with a committee. Gsellman has rebounded nicely from an awful stretch at the end of June, where he gave up runs in six straight appearances. Since then, he has a 1.80 ERA and a 0.950 WHIP in 20 IP.

Gsellman is being back this month by the unlikely duo of Jerry Blevins and Drew Smith, who’ve combined for 14 scoreless innings, with each contributing seven frames. Blevins, who struggled earlier in the season, has been outstanding, as he’s allowed just two hits without a walk and has fanned eight in this stretch. Smith, one of the gaggle of righty relievers acquired last year in deadline deals, has leapfrogged everyone else to be the one who looks like he can be a piece of next year’s pen. While his fastball doesn’t have a ton of movement, his plus velocity and ability to move the ball around has served him well.

Tyler Bashlor has come up from Double-A and held his own in the pen. This month he has a 1.93 ERA in 9.1 IP. Paul Sewald has returned from a trip to the minors and resembles the effective reliever he was last year, rather than the punching bag he was earlier in 2018. And Daniel Zamora has followed the Bashlor path to the majors, bypassing Las Vegas, and looking like a potential replacement for Blevins, as he has 4 Ks in 2.2 IP over 3 G. They got Zamora – and money! – from the Pirates in exchange for Josh Smoker.

And while the pitching is getting straightened out, the offense has shown signs of life, too. Nine times this month, the Mets have scored six or more runs. They’ve also scored three or fewer runs 10 times. In their last four games, they’ve scored three, eight, one and six runs. Of course, a few days before that they put up 40 runs over two games. Overall, in their last 11 games, the Mets are 7-4.