Mets: Jacob deGrom nearing fourth-place on franchise WAR list

Jacob deGrom is dangerously close to having the fourth-highest WAR in New York Mets history.

Sitting in sixth-place on the New York Mets all-time WAR list is current pitcher Jacob deGrom. The club’s ace and two-time Cy Young winner last passed Carlos Beltran and his 31.1 WAR compiled as a member of the Mets. Next up, deGrom had Darryl Strawberry and his 36.6 WAR to surpass.

Heading into the 2020 season, deGrom had a career WAR of 35.5. He won’t get a chance to do the same amount of damage as he would in a full campaign but should get enough starts to move as far as number four on the all-time franchise list.

Right ahead of Strawberry is pitcher Jerry Koosman. The greatest left-handed starter in Mets history had a career 36.6 WAR as a member of the orange and blue franchise. Soon, he’ll fall to number five on the WAR list.

deGrom’s climb up this ranking has been a fast one. In the past two seasons, he has passed franchise legends such as Mike Piazza, Keith Hernandez, and Edgardo Alfonzo.

The last pitcher deGrom pushed back one spot is Sid Fernandez. Often overlooked, Fernandez had a 29.2 WAR with the team.

WAR doesn’t necessarily prove one player is better than another but it can help an argument. Bad players don’t get good WAR numbers. It’s a statistic reserved for only the best.

To no one’s surprise, Tom Seaver is number one in franchise history at 78.8. Behind him, there’s David Wright at 49.2. Finally, there’s Dwight Gooden with a career Mets WAR of 46.4.

deGrom has a legitimate chance to become number two all-time in Mets history. It may take him through the end of the 2022 season to do it, but if he can have anything close to the seasons he has had in 2018 and 2019, it should be easy.

First, deGrom will need to pass Strawberry to reach the top five and then take down Koosman to climb into the Mount Rushmore. From there, he’ll have a steep hill to climb before reaching Doc and Captain America.

Every start deGrom makes seems to put a dent in the Mets’ record books and cement himself further in this franchise’s lore. There’s much less to debate about his greatness. He’s proving his worth every fifth day.

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Where he’ll eventually rank in the eyes of the fans and numbers will have a lot to do with how the team performs around him. The last thing any Mets fan wants is to see him become known as the best pitcher in club history to never win a World Series with them. That’s a dubious distinction we would like Al Leiter to hold onto.