Eighth in a series about the Mets
The relative sprint of a shortened season, should MLB decide to play this year, may hurt Jacob deGrom’s chances of winning a third straight National League Cy Young award.
Often, it’s the marathon of a full season that separates the best from the contenders. Exhibit A was last season, when Hyun-jin Ryu carried a 1.45 ERA into mid-August. If the Cy Young vote was taken at that point, it would have been considered an upset if anybody other than the Dodgers left-hander won the award.
Ryu faded over the final six weeks and deGrom strengthened, allowing the Mets ace to win the Cy Young for a second straight year. In a half-season, or thereabouts, the pack of contenders will be thick.
But deGrom, who turns 32 next month, shouldn’t necessarily view a potential half-season layoff as a negative, at least when viewed through the prism of affecting his performance.
After three straight seasons of 200-plus innings, the downtime provided by the COVID-19 outbreak could actually benefit deGrom, leading to an even crisper version of the right-hander when play begins.
“I think it helps him, the rest that he is getting,” a talent evaluator from a National League team said Sunday. “He’s a guy, with his mechanics and his mentality, with his work ethic, I think he will be just as good. I don’t know how much you can say ‘better’ — he’s arguably the best pitcher, one of the two or three in the game — but it’s going to be helpful for him.”
DeGrom last season went 11-8 with a 2.43 ERA and led the NL with 255 strikeouts in 204 innings. He and Max Scherzer have won the last four NL Cy Young awards, creating a healthy debate over who is the league’s top gun. It comes after a stretch in which Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw formed the nucleus of such a debate.
Though deGrom appreciates the respect he’s earned, he refuses to acknowledge he’s at or near the pinnacle of his profession.
Submit your Mets questions here to be answered in an upcoming Post mailbag
“I don’t think there was ever a point, because I think even how I view it today, I’m still trying to figure out a way to get better,” deGrom told The Post in spring training.
“In 2016, I had my [ulnar] nerve moved in my elbow and I pitched with lesser velocity, but still had a decent year. I think still to this day, every year is different. You don’t know how you are going to feel. You go into the offseason feeling good. But you don’t know how you are going to come in feeling, so it’s constantly working on getting back to where you were and then realizing what you need to do to get ready.”
With Noah Syndergaard rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and out until 2021 and Zack Wheeler now Phillies property, the Mets are counting on deGrom to continue his magic of recent seasons and lead a high-upside veteran rotation.
Marcus Stroman, Steven Matz, Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha are the other components of that unit, with questions looming about the depth behind the starting five.
DeGrom still throws a plus-fastball, but that is only one weapon in an extensive arsenal.
“The thing about deGrom, what makes him the best or how good he is, is the command,” the talent evaluator said. “Players will tell you deGrom is maybe the toughest pitcher in baseball to hit because of his tunneling, his release point. He is the toughest guy to pick up, so it gives him an extra foot or whatever, plus hitters can’t pick the pitch out. [DeGrom] is so out in front more than anybody else in the game, that gives him that extra three or four miles per hour.”