Mets: Where does Jacob deGrom rank in the top pitchers of the decade?

Jacob deGrom had a fantastic six years in the 2010s. How does the New York Mets ace compare to the rest of the competition over the last ten seasons?

As we reminisce about the past 10 years of baseball, we reflect on the bad, the good, and the legendary. In terms of the peak of a player’s career, a lot can happen in a decade. Especially in terms of pitching, players rise and fall rather quickly. When looking at the New York Mets, some of our starting pitchers have been the best we could have asked for. Yet one, in particular, stands out. Let’s take a look at where Jacob deGrom would stand with the top pitchers of the decade.

Top 10 Pitchers of the 2010s

Clayton Kershaw:

Career: ERA  2.44, WHIP 1.01, W/L Percentage .695

 Justin Verlander

Career: ERA  3.33, WHIP 1.135, W/L Percentage .636

Max Scherzer

Career: ERA  2.20, WHIP 1.092, W/L Percentage .656

Madison Bumgarner

Career: ERA  3.13, WHIP 1.11, W/L Percentage .564

Zack Greinke

Career: ERA  3.35, WHIP 1.159, W/L Percentage .625

Cole Hamels

Career: ERA  3.42, WHIP 1.183, W/L Percentage .574

Chris Sale

Career: ERA 3.03, WHIP 1.035, W/L Percentage .599

David Price

Career: ERA  3.31, WHIP 1.53, W/L Percentage .652

Jacob deGrom

Career: ERA  2.62, WHIP 1.053, W/L Percentage .574

Jon Lester

Career: ERA  3.56, WHIP 1.264, W/L Percentage .638

The biased Mets fan in me would have loved to put deGrom higher on the list especially because of how some of these players have peaked and then fallen to be rather average pitchers. This is why I don’t think looking at an entire decade really determines the success of a pitcher’s career.

deGrom isn’t as high as he could have been for a few reasons. The number one being that despite him being 31, deGrom was a rookie in 2014 at 26 years old, meaning that he only played for half the decade. The other biggest reason being that even the die-hard Mets fan in me has to admit that the team has never really given him the run support or defensive power that he deserved.

There was a great amount of pressure on the Mets’ starters the past few seasons, but more so on deGrom. This is because of how consistently the bullpen blew leads and how that puts more responsibility on the starting pitcher to make their innings count.

As we know deGrom never gets the kind of run support for the Mets to make as much of an impact offensively, leading to more pressure on deGrom to hold it down defensively. This is a tough task even for a pitcher like Jacob deGrom because of things like an unreliable outfield and a bullpen that has trouble to stay afloat inning after inning.

The reason deGrom is still such a dominant pitcher at 31 where most pitchers start to digress is because of his technique. deGrom has one of the fastest pitches in baseball under his belt, yet he relies more on his off-speed pitches to do most of the damage. By proxy, he does not have to overuse his fastball & doesn’t overtire his arm which is why his K/9 is one of his most notable statistics.

This is why I believe that deGrom will continue to dominate the MLB in much of what he does even in the upcoming years. It’s a really insane thought that deGrom could be even better but with a more solid outfield and reliable bullpen, deGrom could be a 20-win per season pitcher.

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I know the cynical Mets fan in all of us doesn’t want to get our hopes up. But if there was one player I’d put my hope in it would be Jacob deGrom.