Jacob DeGrom has had a historic rise during his MLB career
NEW YORK (BVM) — After being selected by the New York Mets in the ninth round of the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft, Jacob deGrom’s expectations were anything but high. In fact, he wasn’t even focused on pitching full-time until the spring before he got drafted.
As a slick-fielding shortstop, who didn’t provide much from his bat, he always had a loose arm that could riffle baseballs from across the diamond to first base producing the satisfying pop of the glove sound that fans love. However, the coaching staff at Stetson University wanted to see what he could do on the mound. And when he took the bump, he impressed his coaches and MLB scouts.
After missing the entire 2012 season due to Tommy John surgery, deGrom started his professional career and quickly rose through the Mets farm system as he built up his velocity and offspeed pitches. In college, deGrom threw a fastball that reached the low 90s and a solid changeup. He wasn’t anywhere near the strikeout pitcher he would eventually grow into, making his progression much more extraordinary.
10 STRKEOUTS FOR JACOB deGROM! pic.twitter.com/QBF372ydJn
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 14, 2022
In 2014, the pitcher reached the big leagues and enjoyed immediate success. In 22 starts, he compiled a 2.69 ERA in 140 ⅓ innings with 43 walks and 144 strikeouts.
While he had been gradually improving, deGrom flew under the radar of other top prospects’ hype and hid in the shadows of other great Met pitchers, like Matt Harvey and Steven Matz. But there he was, a mainstay type of pitcher that fans would be able to enjoy watching for years to come.
After being a vital component of the Mets’ 2015 playoff run, deGrom’s progression was still trending upward. He began to establish himself as a strikeout king and one of the top pitchers in MLB. Usually, pitchers lose fastball velocity as they age due to the wear and tear the arm goes through year in and year out. deGrom blew away these standards and has instead gained velocity with age. From his college days of low 90s fastballs and subpar off-speed pitches, 2018 saw him averaging an astounding 99 MPH on the radar gun while topping out regularly at 102 deep into games. Along with this, he established one of the most devastating sliders hitters have had to go up against that tops out at 95 MPH.
In the following years, deGrom joined a very small list of pitchers to win back-to-back Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019. During the 2018 season, he produced an ERA of 1.70 ERA in 217 innings along with 269 strikeouts. The sheer dominance continued the next year with 255 strikeouts and a 2.43 ERA in 204 innings. Two of the best seasons of his career, at least up to this point.
The dominance has continued through the years for the Mets ace. But concerns about his health have raised concerns about his longevity. Injuries to his shoulder and elbow have caused deGrom to miss plenty of starts the last two or three seasons. Usually this would make a team hesitant to commit to a pitcher for a long period of time, especially at his age of 34 years old.
Nonetheless, Jacob deGrom is simply on a different type of athlete. Whenever he takes the mound, everyone watching knows they are seeing greatness. Fans are locked in on every pitch with the full awareness that he won’t be pitching forever. But baseball fans, or anyeone else who appreiacates greatness, to take it all because what he’s doing might not be done again.
