Best hitting pitchers in Mets history

Now that the MLB lockout has officially ended, the start of 2022 season will mark the beginning of a new era for not just the New York Mets, but the league as a whole.

Last month, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced during a press conference that the league had agreed to adopt a universal designated hitter between both the American and National League beginning in the 2022 season.

Moving forward, this new rule means that pitchers will no longer take a turn at bat in the line up, and instead will be replaced by a "designated hitter" to take their plate appearances.

Regardless of your feelings on the designated hitter, the rule is now here to stay, meaning that 2021 was the last year the MLB will see starting pitchers take an at bat.

With that being the case, it seems as good a time as any to take a walk down memory lane and look back at the top 5 best best hitting pitchers to play for the Mets, but before we begin, lets first review a few honorable mentions:

NY Mets best hitting pitchers: Honorable Mentions

Before we get into the top 5 pitchers in franchise history, lets first acknowledge a few pitchers who didn't quiet crack the top 5, but still had notable achievements with the Mets at the dish as well as the mount.

Firstly, right handed pitcher Carl Willey had the honor of becoming first Mets pitcher to hit home run.

While none of the team's pitchers hit a home run in the franchise's inaugural 1962 season, Willey joined the team for the 1963 season and managed to be the first pitcher to knock one out of the park.

Facing off against the Houston Colt .45s on July 15, 1963, Willey slugged a home run to deep Right Field off of Ken Johnson, and managed to drive home Frank Thomas, Joe Hicks and Larry Burright in the process.

This home run didn't just give Willey the honors of becoming the first Mets pitcher to hit a home run, but the first to hit a Grand Slam as well.

Moving on from Willey, the Mets pitcher with arguably the best single season in team history is one of the 2000 National League Champions, Mike Hampton.

Although 2000 was his only season in New York, Hampton performed very well during his time in Queens, both on the mound and at the plate.

As a hitter during the 2000 season, Hampton had 84 total plate appearances in 34 games, over which he recorded 20 hits, drove in 8 RBI and logged 5 walks.

For the year, he recorded the highest single season batting average for a Mets starting pitcher with .274, as well as the highest OBP with .313, earning himself a Silver Slugger award in the process.

And of course, as we are recapping the highlights of Mets pitchers at the plate, we couldn't forget to also include the legendary home run by the fan favorite, Bartolo Colon.

Despite being 43 years old and never looking comfortable at the plate, on May 7, 2016 against the San Diego Padres, Colon managed to do what many thought was impossible and his first career home run off of James Shields.

At age 42 years and 349 days, Colon set a new MLB record, becoming the oldest major league player to hit his first home run.

An iconic an very memorable moment for Mets fans, this list surely wouldn't have been complete without including it.

And now that the honorable mentions are out of the way, lets move on to the top 5 hitting pitchers in Mets history.

NY Mets best hitting pitcher No. 5: Noah Syndergaard

While the man they called "Thor", when healthy, was one of the hardest throwers in the game, Noah Syndergaard was quiet a formidable hitter as well.

Over the 121 regular season games he appeared in for the Mets, Syndergaard logged 251 plate appearances, over which he recorded 34 hits while slugging 6 home runs, driving in 15 RBI and logging 15 walks.

For his career, Syndergaard has a registered .153 batting average with a .206 OBP, which isn't bad in the slightest for a hitter, but while he doesn't have a flashy average, he was most famous for his power.

On May 27, 2015, in just his fourth career start, Syndergaard hit his first career home run, launching a line drive to deep center field off of Phillies pitcher Sean O'Sullivan, showing fans just what a powerful bat he had.

One year later on May 11, 2016 while facing the Dodgers, Syndergaard became the first Mets pitcher since 1983 to hit two home runs in a game, as he recorded homers in the 3rd and 7th inning, both off of Kenta Maeda.

Syndergaard joined Walt Terrell as one of two pitchers in franchise history to hit two home runs in a game, and with the Universal DH coming to the MLB starting in 2022, that record will now never be broken.

Syndergaard certainly left his mark as both a pitcher and hitter during his time in Queens, and based on all he accomplished, he easily goes down as one of the top 5 hitting pitchers in team history.

NY Mets best hitting pitcher Number 4: Jacob deGrom

At this point, it goes without saying that current New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom in great, and at his current trajectory, he may very well eclipse Tom Seaver's reputation as the best pitcher in Franchise history when is career is finally over.

While deGrom is a killer on the mound, over his 8 years in the league, he has also developed a reputation as a formidable hitter at the plate as well.

For his career, deGrom has recorded 423 plate appearances, over which he logged 78 hits while slugging 3 home runs, 29 RBI and logging 17 walks.

For his career, Jacob has recorded a total batting average of .204 and an OBP of .238.

His best season at the plate came in 2021, where over 15 games he recorded a batting average of .364 and droved in 6 RBI, tying his career best.

Sadly, deGrom only played half of the 2021 season after being shut down following the All-Star break due to injury.

Even still, Jacob deGrom certainly left his mark during his final year as a hitter, and for his career thus far, goes down on this list as the 4th best hitting pitcher in New York Mets team history.

NY Mets best hitting pitcher Number 3: Tom Seaver

One of the greatest pitchers to ever take the mound in Major League Baseball, "The Franchise" Tom Seaver was no slouch at the plate either.

Seaver played in the MLB for 20 season, spending his first 11 years as a member of the New York Mets before being traded to the Reds in 1977, and returned to the team for one more year in 1983.

Over his 12 seasons in New York, Seaver amassed 975 at bats over 1139 plate appearances, over which he posted a .150 batting average with a .217 OBP.

In that time, Tom Terrific recorded a total of 146 hits, including 17 doubles, 5 triples and 6 home runs while slugging 60 RBI and walking 80 times.

While Seaver holds many pitching records for the Mets, he also has the record for most career hits by a pitcher for New York, with his 146 ranking at the top of the pack.

One of his most memorable stints at he plate was during the 1973 post season against the Cincinnati Reds, where over 2 games in the NLCS, Tom recorded 2 doubles and drove in a RBI as he helped lead the Mets to the World Series.

Fans called him Tom Terrific for a reason, and that because Seaver was among the best in everything he did on the field, hitting included, which is why he comes in as the 3rd best hitting pitcher in Mets history.

NY Mets best hitting pitcher Number 1: Dwight Gooden

One of the best pitchers in franchise history, the former Rookie of the Year and Cy Young award winner Dwight Gooden rounds out this list as the top hitting pitcher in Mets history.

Starting out his career with the Mets in 1984, Gooden went on to pitch in Queens for 11 years, and while he was dominate on the mound, he was formidable at the plate as well.

Over his 11 years in New York, Gooden had 730 at bats over 837 plate appearances. Over that span, Gooden posted a .197 batting average and a .213 OBP.

For his career in New York, Doc notched 144 hits, 15 doubles, 5 triples and 7 home runs while logging 65 RBI, as well as walking 13 times.

Dwigth Gooden currently holds several pitching records for the Mets, but what is less known is that he holds several hitting records among Mets pitches as well.

Gooden's 7 home runs and 65 RBI are both Mets franchise records among pitchers, while his 144 career hits for New York are second most in team history, trailing only Tom Seaver.

After hitting the most consistently of all other starting pitchers over his time in New York, as well as being the leader of many of the statistical categories, its safe to say that Dwight Gooden takes home the title of best hitting pitcher in Mets franchise history.

An with all that said, starting in 2022, Major League baseball will step into a new era with the Designated Hitter becoming standard throughout the league.

The days of watching a pitcher slug a home run or drive in an RBI to make himself the winning pitcher have come and gone.

While some fans opinions on the designated hitter may be mixed, at the very least the Mets pitchers have left us behind a lifetime of moments at the plate which we can all look back on for years to come.