Jacob deGrom
If there was another pitcher on the team who is overshadowing Matt Harvey - and he is - this season, it would have to be Jacob deGrom. The reigning NL Rookie of the Year has only gotten better in his sophomore campaign, going 8-5 with a 2.15 ERA and racking up 100 strikeouts. He has proven himself as the ace, increased his velocity and added more control. The right-hander is classy, notably recognized for his hair and frequently characterized by the hashtag #deGrominant after throwing a gem against another all-star lineup. Since getting shelled by Kris Bryant and the Chicago Cubs in May, deGrom has absolutely dominated, allowing just eight earned runs over his last eight starts to go with 63 strikeouts (this includes a masterful performance against a St. Louis offense in which he struck out 11 Cardinals and allowed just one hit; as well as throwing eight scoreless innings against Milwaukee, allowing four hits and striking out seven batters on 100 pitchers). Certainly, deGrom has put himself into Cy Young consideration, and it would be shocking if he were not to make the All-Star Game. The only pitchers who have arguably had more successful seasons are Max Scherzer and Zack Grienke. DeGrom is pitching as well as anyone in the league right now. No one, with the exception of Scherzer - who is pitching at a superhuman level right now - has thrown as well as deGrom over the last month-and-a-half. And he’s doing it with a suspect defense.
WHAT HE THROWS:
Four-seam fastball: 95.65 mph, 48.38 percent usage, -4.90 inches horizontal movement, 9.37 inches vertical movement
DeGrom has used his four-seam more than last season, an increase of almost four percent, and the 27-year-old has only gotten better with it. His velocity has increased from 94.49 mph last season, and he’s throwing it with more confidence this season. Batters are hitting just .156 against it, but have hit five home runs out of the 717 four-seam fastballs he’s thrown, versus just four last year on 992 four-seamers. Still, the pitch is obviously successful and deGrom continues to show improvement - after all, he hasn’t been pitching for very long.
Slider: 90.32 mph, 19.16 percent usage, 0.48 inches horizontal movement, 4.86 inches vertical movement
The right-hander has also relied slightly more on his slider, which is both good and bad. Last year, it became noticeably evident that deGrom relied on his fastball (as he should) when runners weren’t in scoring position, but when there were, he tended to use his slider quite a bit. However, it has been more effective this season, regardless of when he uses it, as opponents are hitting it at a .236 clip compared to .274 last year.
Sinker: 95.3 mph, 13.7 percent usage, -8.20 inches horizontal movement, 6.78 inches vertical movement
DeGrom’s sinker has terrific down action, and it was certainly effective last year. This year: not as much. It’s become - by far - deGrom’s least successful pitch, and batters he’s faced and thrown it to are responding with a .309 average. However, it has created more swings-and-misses, going from a 6.91 whiff rate to 9.36. He hasn’t been using it nearly as much as last season, which might be for the better, but when deGrom does have good control of it, like he did against the Cardinals earlier this year and in other starts this year, it can be an incredibly dangerous pitch.
Curve: 82.76 mph, 9.78 percent usage, 3.84 inches horizontal movement, -1.61 inches vertical movement
The curveball was only learned by deGrom a couple of years ago, when pitching coach Ron Romanick asked him if he “threw a bender” toward the end of 2013 and taught deGrom after he said no (remember, deGrom played shortstop until his later years in college). For the most part, deGrom has thrown it at a similar rate and seen similar results. Seeing as it’s still a semi-new pitch, he hasn’t necessarily thrown it with confidence too often, which is fine - he’s still learning and it will likely develop with time.
Changeup: 85.92 mph, 8.97 percent usage, -7.13 inches horizontal movement, 4.17 inches vertical movement
Although this is deGrom’s least popular pitch, it has created the highest swing rate out of his repertoire. He’s also induced a whiff rate of more than 22 percent and batters are only hitting .214 against it, which statistically makes it his second-best pitch. When deGrom struggles to get his pitches down in the zone, similar to Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard, he can adjust and rely a little more on his changeup. The results have been magnificent this season.
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