Written by Jacob Shafer at BleacherReports.com
Remember when the New York Mets’ vaunted super-rotation was a beacon of hope and stability in Queens?
So much for that.
Matt Harvey is lost for the season to shoulder surgery. Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz are pitching through bone spurs in their elbows. And Zack Wheeler has hit multiple speed bumps in his return from Tommy John surgery.
That leaves only Jacob deGrom, who twirled nine scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday and served notice that he’s still an ace worth leaning on.
No one had given up on deGrom, at least no one whose opinion you should trust. But the 2014 National League Rookie of the Year endured a rough patch early in the season and watched his ERA balloon more than two points between April 30 and May 21.
Over his last nine starts, however, he’s vacillated between stout and stellar, striking out 68 in 61 innings while allowing just 12 walks and 13 earned runs.
Sunday’s performance was particularly transcendent. Only a walk to woeful Ryan Howard and a hit by Phillies pitcher Zach Eflin stood between deGrom and perfection as he engineered the first complete-game and first shutout of his young career.
And he did other things well, too, as Newsday‘s Marc Carig pointed out
“There was all that concern about his velocity early, but he’s just gotten a little stronger and a little stronger,” manager Terry Collins said after deGrom’s gem, per Stephen Pianovich and Evan Webeck of MLB.com. … “You saw better command today and probably the best sinker he had all year.”
Entering play Sunday, deGrom’s average fastball velocity of 93.2 mph was a tick below his career average of 94.1 mph. But it’s been trending in the right direction. And, as Collins noted, the sinker was on-point against Philadelphia, as deGrom induced 10 ground balls to just five fly balls.
To continue reading this article, click here.
