Jacob deGrom As Masterful As Pedro

There are many ways to describe how great Jacob deGrom has been since the start of the 2018 season. There are not enough superlatives, and there is almost no such thing as hyperbole. And yet, we are all running out of ways to describe him.

With his slider ramping up to 95 MPH, he set a career high with 14 strikeouts. That made him the first Mets pitcher to start a season with back-to-back 10+ strikeout games.

With his 14 strikeout performance allowing no runs and just two hits, he became the fifth Mets pitcher to accomplish the feat. That list of pitchers includes Hall of Famers Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan.

With his home run off Marlins starter Trevor Richards, he’s knocked in more runs than he’s allowed all year.

His final line was 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 14 K. That’s his 31st consecutive start allowing three earned or fewer extending his own MLB record. With this quality start, he tied Bob Gibson‘s MLB record of 26 consecutive quality starts.

When you break it all down, it’s hard to quantify or explain just how great deGrom has been. Perhaps the best way to put it is what Pedro Martinez said tonight about deGrom, “He reminds me a lot of myself.”

Remember this is the same Pedro who had one of the greatest seasons and stretches in MLB history with his 1999 and 2000 seasons.

In many ways, this comparison could be the best way to describe just how great deGrom is right now. With Pedro being Pedro, he added deGrom is a taller and better looking version.

Look, we can discuss some other time about how Pete Alonso, Robinson Cano, Michael Conforto, Amed Rosario, and Dominic Smith helped contribute five of the six runs the Mets scored.

There will also be time to discuss how Mickey Callaway pushed Luis Avilan too far which helped put the eventual 6-4 win into jeopardy and require Edwin Diaz to come in and get the save.

That’s all for some other time. Tonight was about how great deGrom is.

Game Notes: deGrom joined a list which included Seaver, Gibson, Steve Carlton, and Madison Bumgarner of pitchers who have homered in a game where they struck out at least 14.

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