deGrominant: How A Shortstop Became The Best Pitcher In Baseball

Eleven years ago, the New York Mets drafted what would arguably become the best pitcher in MLB. Except at the time, he was a shortstop.

Likened to Mets pitching legends such as Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden, Jacob deGrom, in his recent seasons, racked up back-to-back Cy Young awards, led the league in ERA in 2018 and led the National League in strikeouts in both 2019 and 2020. deGrom, in my opinion, makes an obvious case for National League MVP and the title of the best pitcher in baseball currently, but just how did he get to where he is now?

deGrom attended Stetson University, where he exclusively played shortstop during his freshman and sophomore years. In 2010, Stetson struggled to find a strong closer. So coach Pete Dunn planned for deGrom to not only become their starting shortstop but their reliever, too. The reasoning was simple: deGrom had the best arm on the team.

Picked 272nd in the 2010 MLB draft, deGrom had a pretty decent minor league career, as he transitioned slowly but surely from the Kingsport Mets to the St. Lucie Mets. However, what’s most shocking during this period is that deGrom underwent Tommy John surgery after his first season. 

Let’s be honest, Tommy John can be seen as a career-altering surgery; according to the Bill James Handbook website, more than 20% of pitchers never return to the majors after it. So the fact that deGrom had the surgery when he was just in the minors and performs the way he does now is insane.

When deGrom was called up in 2014, he did not disappoint. In his opening game against the New York Yankees, he allowed one run in seven innings and struck out six batters. Of course, the Mets are the Mets and can never give run support to their pitchers, and during this rookie year, deGrom failed to secure the win in his first four starts. Some things never change. Since deGrom recently lost the title of lowest run support to SP Brandon Woodruff, I guess things are finally looking up?

This first year became his stepping stone to surpassing Mets giants as deGrom received the NL Rookie of the Year award. deGrom’s name was put up right next to Seaver and Gooden as one of five franchise ROY winners for the Mets. He still had a long way to go if he wanted to make his name synonymous with theirs. However, while he boasted an impressive 144 strikeouts, both Seaver and Gooden surpassed him with 170 and 276 strikeouts, respectively. In 2015, deGrom again proved his worth during his memorable playoff run by tying Seaver’s postseason strikeout record (13). 

deGrom resembles so much of Seaver, especially when looking at his records and statistics. Unlike Gooden, on the other hand, he wasn’t some super young talent that blew everyone out of the water right at the start of his career. Instead, he improved slowly but with great success that only continued to grow as time went on.

No excellent star can go without their fair share of setbacks, and deGrom’s came in the form of a game in 2017 against the Texas Rangers where he allowed eight runs on 10 hits. After being removed in the fourth, manager Terry Collins said something to deGrom that changed his whole life. I’m not kidding. Whatever Collins said to him dramatically improved deGrom’s performance almost overnight. deGrom went on to record eight consecutive wins tying another Seaver record. 

For a quick comparison, in deGrom’s worst start of 2018, he allowed four runs. At this point, we should just replace the word “worst” with “average” because even when deGrom isn’t at his best, he’s still better than most.

We know what happened next. deGrom shows up in 2018 with short hair, and he goes on to shatter expectations once again before receiving his first Cy Young award. His ERA was a whopping 1.70, the second-lowest in a decade. How could he possibly top that? Well, he did by leading the NL in strikeouts the following year and winning another Cy Young, of course!

But forget about those seasons — have you seen this guy pitch in 2021?! He’s leading the league not only with a 0.69 ERA, but his batting average is .414. Wow. Even crazier, his ERA+ — the statistic that makes ERA more comparable to the league average — is 744. The average ERA+ is 100. In other words, deGrom is about seven times better than your average pitcher.

If you don’t believe me when I say I think deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball right now, take it from Gooden himself. In April, when deGrom “deGrominated” the Washington Nationals in a 15-strikeout complete-game shutout, Gooden described his excitement while watching him pitch.

“What deGrom is doing, I can watch him and kind of understand what the fans were telling me, the joy that I brought to them, the excitement I brought to them into their house,” Gooden told New York Post. “He’s bringing the excitement to me watching him.” 

Cover photo courtesy of Noah K. Murray/AP Photo