SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
In his high school days in Florida, he was a good student and a versatile baseball player who played where he was needed.
Nothing changed when he enrolled at nearby Division 1 Stetson University in Central Florida. Good grades and a savior on the baseball diamond. He played the outfield, shortstop, second base, and pitched.
Meet Jacob Anthony dcGrom, the 2018 National League Cy Young Award winner.
Remarkable, no doubt it is, for when the New York Mets signed him after he graduated from Stetson with a business degree, they figured with all the positions he can play, they might be able to use him. After all, they didn’t break the bank signing him, and there was no bonus.
As a rookie he first reported to the Brooklyn Cyclones based in Coney Island. And being short in pitchers, that’s where they put him. He did throw hard, had a nasty curveball, and was learning the change-up.
But when he moved up to single A, then to AA Binghamton, and to AAA Las Vegas, he was called up to the parent team, who thought he could help in the bullpen.
But he was just Jacob deGrom. He worked out of the bullpen while the Mets raved about Matt Harvey and Noah Synegaard and Josh Wheeler, who they acquired in trades.
No matter, for deGrom, a right hander like Harvey, Synegaard and Wheeler, had a super attitude, and when the Mets started him in a game, he had a mediocre first inning that included two wild pitches, two walks, and was reached for two runs.
He came out after the third inning, but he next came out of the bullpen with two on and no out, and struck out two batters and got the third on a bouncer to him, and where he displayed his ability on the mound as a reminder he did play the infield in high school and college.
As a rookie, he was hampered by injuries, but there were times he was good to go and impressed with his fastball, curve, change-up, and was working on a slider.
Soon, he was right up there with the three other righties, and was officially No. 48. He was noticeably displaying a fastball that now came with velocity jumping.
He fit right into the rotation. He learned, his control was better, so were his pet pitches. He was chosen for the All-Star team, and when called on in the fourth inning, he struck out the side on just 10 pitches. It was probably one of the finest pitching stint in the Classic’s long history.
This past season was the highlight for him, but with little support from the Mets. Every time he pitched, he was in command, but would go into the late innings of games where he was behind 1-0 or 2-0, mowed down hitters with his excellent stuff, and would lose.
He would work out of bases loaded jams by retiring three batters in a row, most of them on strikeouts. He was king of the hill while the Mets were not scoring. He gave up more than three runs in only one start.
But he never complained about his teammates, just kept pitching and producing a league-best earned run average that never reached 2 ERA. His stretch run was the time when he finally made it over .500 and finished at 10-9, with a 1.70 ERA that was among the best in history for a starter.
Record aside, he was the best hurler in the majors. He won the Cy Young handily. He reached 1,000 strikeouts in his short stay in the majors, and it came in the season finale.
It was a captivating moment and reached crescendo from the Citi Field crowd when he struck out the Marlins’ Ronald Acuna in the sixth inning for strikeout 1,000.
Normally stoic and all business, when he left the mound in the eighth inning with the lead, he cracked a huge smile and strutted off the mound. The crowd rose and continued to applaud and he continued to tip his cap.
Now 30, The Mets have already talked of giving him a long contract with a salary he richly deserves. No more $500,000 a year.
And they are already celebrating at Stetson.
