Jacob deGrom...
 

It may not be accurate to call Jacob deGrom an "underrated" pitcher...he did after all, win back-to-back Cy Youngs in 2019 and 2020 (he finished 3rd in the voting last year). But I feel that something needs to be said about his performance so far THIS year...which threatens to label him as the best pitcher that baseball history has ever kept stats on.

Consider this:

So far this year...here is what deGrom has accomplished:

Innings................40
Earned Runs.........3
Hits.....................17
Home Runs...........2
Walks...................7
Strike Outs...........65
ERA....................0.68

And for the more "Sybermetric" among us:

ERA+.........567
FIP............1.03
WHIP........0.600

Absolutely incredible, IMO...and by FAR the best pitching numbers that we've ever seen. :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp:

If only he played on a team that could hit.

And the beat goes on. I thought it was a good bet at -111. Another dominating performance by deGrom.

Check out the contract….Yowser!


https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/new-york...-degrom-15662/

Truly amazing.

7 innings 3 hits 0 runs 11 strikeouts. Yesterday. Vs,. Padres

Era down to 0.62. Whip 0.569. 93k 8 walks. 25 hits 58 inning
Best start in MLB history . Even surpassing Dutch Leonard from 1914 deadball era.

He's pretty clearly the best in the league right now.



That being said he has started 9 games.


7 of them against teams below .500


Arizona- Twice
Colorado- Twice
Washington
Miami
Philadelphia


*Full disclosure* I'm a huge Padres fan and was already tired of hearing about how good the NL East was before the season even started. Throw in the always sizeable coverage the sorry Yankees always get and you have a pretty jaded fan on your hands.


Nothing matters in Baseball this year except the Dodgers and Padres. Nothing. Write it down.

Sad thing is that the way starters are pampered and restricted in their performance, pitchers like DeGrom will never see their real potential. Those days have ended. Games started are down, innings pitched are down by a third, a bruised pinkie is a missed start.
Pitching has always been the highlight of my baseball interest. Now it totally sucks. One would think that with just a handful of hitters batting over .300 this season, pitchers are on fire. No, pitchers simply cheat better than ever before. There are a number of new inventions (foreign substance) that are nearly impossible to detect. One is a super-glue variant. Used sparingly, it last thru an inning and be reapplied in the dugout. If ump makes a trip to the mound, it can readily be removed with a swipe of the fingers on uniform seams or cleats if need be. This new cheat increases the spin rate on a slider or sinker by up to 25%. Note the low era's of the current leaders in both leagues, and the numbers are going lower.
The game has become a joke. Having a lineup of fine sluggers isn't jack-shit if they can barely see the ball that's thrown.

You know that they are both in the National League...right?

In these times its very difficult to praise any pitcher for their current accomplishments.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/06/04/st...ds-daily-cover

Not so sure.

2021 features historic lows in OBA (.312) not seen since '72 (.311).
BA .237 lowest in 53 years, equals 1968's .237, the "Year of the Pitcher".
Strikeout rate per 9 IP the highest ever...8.99
Hits per 9 (7.84) lowest since dead ball era1908 (7.75).

If we want to normalize sabermetrically, I'll wait to see if DeGrom (currently 3.2) equals Pedro's 1999 WAR of 11.6 (Fangraphs).

Well aware. It changes nothing relating to my previous statement.

MLB front office is the dumbest bunch of SOB's around.


How can a league that went through the steroid scandal allow itself to fall into another such crisis?



The same group of idiots trying to shorten the games and putting a guy at second base in extra innings to create excitement are allowing pitchers to turn the games into strikeout parties.


If they just get rid of the sticky stuff the excitement issue will be no more. If guys like Acuna, Tatis and Vladdy Jr are this fun to watch with doctored baseballs imagine if they ever level the playing field.

Well...there is going to be at least one team from the OTHER League that has to "matter" this year...NO?