Mets: 15 best starting pitchers all-time in franchise history

6) Mets Best Starting Pitcher – Jon Matlack

We get into a different territory in Mets history when the name Jon Matlack comes up. Matlack is someone I never got to watch pitch due to my unfortunate disability of being born in the late 1980s.

Luckily, even if I am a millennial, I know enough about Matlack to appreciate what he did for the Mets.

Matlack ranks seventh in WAR (26.6), fifth in ERA (3.03), and seventh in wins (82) among all Mets pitchers. Often overshadowed by two other names we haven’t gotten to yet on this list, Matlack enjoyed some excellent seasons with the Mets that even bested those two.

A three-time All-Star, Matlack won double-digit games for the club every year from 1972-1976. He kept runs off the board amazingly well despite not always getting the best run-support.

The 1972 Rookie of the Year has the misfortunate of owning a record of 82-81 as a member of the Mets. Even with an ERA at nearly 3.00, wins were hard for him to find at times.

Matlack marched on even if his team wasn’t winning much. He won a then career-high 16 games in 1975. A year later, he won 17.

Matlack’s 1973 postseason numbers were solid, too. He shutout the Cincinnati Reds in his one NLCS start and handled the Oakland Athletics well in his three World Series starts against them. Sadly, handling them well wasn’t enough as he was still 1-2 with a 2.16 ERA.

It’s amazing that even with his numbers Matlack was typically viewed as the number three pitcher during his time in New York. In his seven years, he got to enjoy pitching alongside some of the best in franchise history. Surely, he learned a thing or two from them along the way.