NY Mets: 3 overreactions from the first month of the season

3) Jacob deGrom is the NL MVP

A pitcher hasn’t won NL MVP since Clayton Kershaw did it in 2014, taking home both the MVP and Cy Young in the same season. If Jacob deGrom can play even just half as well as he has in April for the rest of the season, he will be the next pitcher to accomplish the feat.

The stats are unbelievable. deGrom leads all MLB starters with an ERA of 0.51 and is first in strikeouts/9 innings pitched with 15.17. Watching deGrom is like watching Michelangelo create the Sistine Chapel the way he paints corners.

His fastball has become even faster than last year’s, coming in at an MLB high 98.9 MPH on average. His slider (40.7 Put Away%) and changeup (40.9 Put Away%) are two of the most devastating off-speed pitches in the game, and the way he mixes them up with his four-seam fastball leaves batters guessing every time they’re at the plate.

The Mets have needed deGrom to be perfect in order to win. In games where he gives up no runs, the Mets are 2-0. In two other starts, he gave up just one run, and the team still fell in both outings.

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Asking for that level of precision and consistency from a pitcher is absurd, but so far, deGrom has been more than up to the task of putting the Amazin’s on his back. Hopefully, the team can give him some more run support later in the season. For now, deGrom is winning games all on his own, and it has been a pleasure to watch him work.