Mets: A statistical rundown of Jacob deGrom’s masterful 2018 season

Jacob deGrom has been deGrominant for the New York Mets. He had one of the best seasons for a pitcher in recent memory. We examine the stats behind his 2018 season.

With the New York Mets set to begin their final homestand of the 2018 season that left much to be desired, one player that did not leave anything to be desired during the 2018 season was pitcher Jacob deGrom.

deGrom, who arguably had one of the greatest seasons for a pitcher in recent memory, will finish the season with a win percentage hovering around .500. A person who knows little about baseball may think deGrom had a mediocre season, but boy are they wrong.

The three “Triple Crown” stats of pitching are the ERA, the win-loss record, and strikeouts. Max Scherzer leads the National League in two of the three, as well as innings pitched, WHIP, and hits per nine innings. Normally, that’s more than enough to win the Cy Young. But with a deeper look at the numbers deGrom is a substantially better pitcher.

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deGrom’s ERA is 1.77 (As of 9/25) – best in the major leagues. In fact, the last time somebody had a lower ERA, excluding Zack Greinke’s masterful 1.66 ERA season in 2015, was Pedro Martinez at 1.74 all the way back in 2000.

deGrom’s only legitimate competitor at this point for the National League CY Young award is Scherzer, who has thrown 4.1 innings more than deGrom but has given up 20 more earned runs. That goes to show how far deGrom is ahead of Scherzer in terms of ERA.

In addition, deGrom has the lowest HR/9 in the MLB at 0.43. He very rarely gives up the long ball, which is a major reason why his ERA is so low. He generates soft contact 24.3% of the time, the highest in the majors. This means opposing batters have a low hang time, trajectory, and landing spot when facing deGrom.

Another commonly overlooked, yet very important stat is WAR – wins above replacement. Jacob is 3rd in the entire MLB in WAR at 9.5 (As of 9/25) – only behind Mookie Betts and Mike Trout.

Perhaps the most tell-tale stat of all is his historic streak of 23 straight quality starts. He tops the previously held threshold of 22 quality starts held by Bob Gibson and Chris Carpenter.

With all things considered, deGrom should have the NL CY Young Award in the bag, heck he should even be in the running for NL MVP. He’s had one of the best seasons for a starting pitcher of all-time.

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Mets fans, despite all the negatives during the 2018 season, we still witnessed a historic pitching performance that we all will never forget.