On Wednesday night at Citi Field, New York Mets radio announcer Howie Rose mused to himself — and the countless fans listening — on who would make a hypothetical and organization Mount Rushmore of pitching.
Three of the names were obvious candidates as he listed Hall-of-Fame Tom Seaver, his No. 2 man in Jerry Koosman — whose number will be retired next season — and the star whose potential was never fully realized in Dwight Gooden.
His fourth was a name that a lot of us probably didn’t immediately think of, but with each passing day, is becoming far an obvious choice: Jacob deGrom.
The 31-year-old ace wrapped up his 2019 season in style on Wednesday night, holding the Miami Marlins scoreless over seven innings, allowing just two hits on seven strikeouts.
Even as the Mets were eliminated from playoff contention, deGrom stole the show as he continued to set a new standard.
He ended the season hurling 23-straight scoreless innings dating back to Sept. 9 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was also his eighth-straight start in which he went seven innings or more. No Met has done that since Al Leiter in 1998.
The seven strikeouts put him at 255 on the season, good for the major-league lead while becoming just the third Met in franchise history to post two consecutive seasons of 250-plus punchouts.
The other two? Seaver and Gooden.
Allowing just one run in his final four starts, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner lowered his 2019 ERA to 2.43. It was a brilliant finish to a torrid stretch that saw him post a 1.89 ERA since May 22.
Only Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Los Angeles Dodgers has a lower ERA (2.41) and he’s pitched almost 30 fewer innings than deGrom this season with 99 fewer strikeouts.
Any sort of debate on who should win the 2019 NL Cy Young ended on Wednesday night.
It’s deGrom, simple as that.
No other pitcher in the National League has the all-around resume that deGrom boasts despite being trapped on a team that failed to give him proper run support or bullpen protection:
Jacob deGrom
204.0 IP
11-8 W-L
2.43 ERA
255 K’s
44 BB
0.971 WHIP
Hyun-Jin Ryu (LA Dodgers)
175.2 IP
13-4 W-L
2.41 ERA
156 K’s
24 BB
1.019 WHIP
Max Scherzer (Washington Nationals)
172.1 IP
11-7 W-L
2.92 ERA
243 K’s
33 BB
1.027 WHIP
Jack Flaherty (St. Louis Cardinals)
189.1 IP
10-8 W-L
2.85 ERA
225 K’s
54 BB
0.988 WHIP
Stephen Strasburg (Washington Nationals)
203.0 IP
17-6 W-L
3.37 ERA
241 K’s
56 BB
1.049 WHIP
Mike Soroka (Atlanta Braves)
169.2 IP
13-4 W-L
2.60 ERA
135 K’s
39 BB
1.090 WHIP
Jacob deGrom is providing us with one of the greatest pitching performances of this generation over the past two seasons.
In his last 64 starts dating back to the start of 2018, he has a 2.05 ERA, a WHIP of 0.941, and 524 strikeouts.
And it’s putting him on a Hall-of-Fame trajectory.
In just six MLB seasons, he holds a career 2.62 ERA with 1,255 strikeouts. Those punchout numbers put him on a 12-year pace to reach the 3,000-strikeout plateau — a benchmark for many Hall-of-Fame pitchers.
It’s quite the indictment on the Mets that his career record is only 66-49. But as they continue to build toward contention in the future, they can take solace in knowing they have one of the greatest pitchers of the 2000s in their rotation.
