Quantcast

Mets’ Jacob deGrom has strong spring debut vs. Nationals

Jacob deGrom
Jacob deGrom (Credit: Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports)

Jacob deGrom’s spring-training debut went very much how the last two seasons have gone: Brilliant.

The Mets’ two-time defending NL Cy Young Award winner went three innings, allowing just one hit and no runs while striking out two against the Washington Nationals on Sunday afternoon in Port St. Lucie.

The top of the first inning took all of three minutes as deGrom threw just seven pitches to retire the side in order. He hit as high as 98 miles per hour on his fastball while forcing two groundouts and a flyout.

Andrew Stevenson recorded the lone hit on deGrom, but he was caught stealing to end the second.

DeGrom responded by setting the Nationals down in order in the third, striking out Carter Kieboom and Brandon Snyder on six consecutive pitches.

The 31-year-old has arguably been the best pitcher in baseball over his two Cy Young-winning campaigns, posting a 2.05 ERA with 524 strikeouts in 421 innings pitched.

He became just the third pitcher in Mets franchise history to post two-straight seasons of 250-plus strikeouts, joining Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden — the two marquee members of the franchise’s Mount Rushmore of hurlers.

While he became the 20th pitcher to win the Cy Young Award multiple times and 10th to do so in consecutive seasons, he is looking to become just the third player in MLB history to win three or more consecutive titles where he would join Randy Johnson (1999-2002, Arizona Diamondbacks) and Greg Maddux (1992-1995), Atlanta Braves.

Entering 2020, deGrom is tasked of carrying a new-look Mets rotation that lost another member of its “Big Five” in the offseason when Zack Wheeler took a five-year, $118 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Noah Syndergaard is slated to take the No. 2 spot behind deGrom while Steven Matz is in a fight to secure the No. 5 spot of the rotation with new addition Michael Wacha.

Marcus Stroman will be keen on proving he’s a frontline starter in a contract year as the Mets’ third starter after coming over from the Toronto Blue Jays at last year’s trade deadline.

Expected to be the fourth starter, Rick Porcello is coming off a career-worst campaign with the Boston Red Sox but is just four years removed from winning the American League Cy Young Award.