It's 2021 and Jacob deGrom still deserves his own thread.

[G-Fafif]

Roger Angell shares his Jacob deGrom thoughts with Jason Gay of WSJ.

In the bottom half of the first, I called the legendary New Yorker writer and fiction editor Roger Angell, whose foray into baseball writing began in 1962 with the “grotesque early sufferings” of the expansion Mets under Casey Stengel (“a walking pantheon of evocations,” Angell wrote of the aging Stengel), eventually reaching a point of such stature and admiration in the sport that, in 2014, Angell was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame. Angell is now 100 years old, and his eyesight is challenged, but he still locks in for the drama of deGrom Day. “There's something very intense about him, but it's effortless intensity,” Angell told me. “There's no grunting or groaning. His pitches up in the 100s are just so surprising, because the pitch comes so quickly, and from normal effort. He's immensely powerful, but it doesn't show itself much.” I noted the 41 on the sleeve of deGrom's jersey, a patch which the Mets are wearing this season to honor Tom Seaver, who died last August. Angell had known Seaver well. Did he see any comparison? “Well, aside from their fabulous efficiency, I don't see much comparison, because Seaver was essentially a drop-down pitcher,” Angell said. “He went straight down—that was his power; his knee would strike the dirt. DeGrom's is just very simple motion. I don't know where this enormous speed comes from. He's strongly-built, but he does not look overpowering. But he is. The amazing thing is that he's getting faster.” He is indeed getting faster. As the Journal's Andrew Beaton and Joshua Robinson noted earlier this month, deGrom's average velocity is climbing at a career point in which pitchers are usually learning how to be craftier, and less reliant on speed. One theory is that DeGrom is a late bloomer: he also played shortstop in college, and in his first season in the minors, he hurt his arm and had Tommy John surgery, missing a season and a half. DeGrom didn't throw 140 innings in a season until he was 25 years old, and the result is a delayed career arc that, as Beaton and Robinson humorously theorized, resembles F. Scott Fitzgerald's character of Benjamin Button. DeGrom appears to be aging in reverse, routinely hitting three digits on the radar gun. Against Boston, he was very good, but not his best. In the second inning, the Red Sox tagged him for a pair of doubles and a run, and while deGrom stopped the bleeding there, New York couldn't score at all off Boston's Nick Pivetta or his relievers, triggering another doleful night for the Mets faithful. A start like what deGrom delivered—six innings, three hits, one run, nine strikeouts, one walk—should be more than enough to get a win, most of the time. Once again, it was not. In Metsworld, the frustration slipped on like an old sweater. “He has had every reason over the last few years to throw teammates under the bus, and has not done it once,” the Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen said late in the contest.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/jacob-degrom-mlb-new-york-mets-red-sox-pitching-strikeout-record-11619703843https://www.wsj.com/articles/jacob-degrom-mlb-new-york-mets-red-sox-pitching-strikeout-record-11619703843

[G-Fafif]

Jacob deGrom is your National League Pitcher of the Month for April.

[batmagadanleadoff]

The day after Jake deGrom is scratched and put on a "no-throw" rest regimen pending further testing, The Athletic runs this piece:





How is the Mets' Jacob deGrom throwing this hard and still getting better? ‘I've never seen anything like it'

Tim Britton 4h ago 27





Excerpt:

Jacob deGrom does not, as far as anyone knows, play the French horn. He pitches with two cleats on, his hat on straight, and with total commitment to his craft. And yet, when Randy Sullivan, founder of the Florida Baseball ARMory, a training facility in Lakeland that works with pitchers on building velocity, watches deGrom, the only person he can think of in his class is a figure from Mets mythology. “Nice coincidence he's with the New York Mets,” Sullivan said. “He's like the April Fool's joke, Sidd Finch.” Over the first five weeks of the season, deGrom has further solidified his title as the best pitcher in baseball. Since 2018, his ERA over 81 starts is 1.99. In five starts this year, he has allowed two earned runs over 35 innings, striking out 59 batters. Three times he's punched out at least 14. “He's a generational pitcher,” Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said. “We're witnessing something that most guys can't do.” “DeGrom's an interesting case,” Alex Caravan, the manager of data science at Driveline Baseball, said this week. “Because there's not really anybody else like deGrom.” What fascinates so many in the sport is not just that deGrom is this good, but also how exactly he has become this good. The right-hander will turn 33 next month, and yet he's throwing harder than he ever has before — harder than any other starting pitcher in baseball. DeGrom is averaging 98.9 miles per hour on his fastball — the fastest by a starter in the pitch tracking era, which dates to 2008. Since he entered the major leagues in 2014 and especially in the last three years, deGrom has methodically added velocity to his fastball better than anyone in baseball. That would be a remarkable development for any pitcher; it's nearly unfathomable for a pitcher after the age of 30. “It's unprecedented,” Caravan said. “At least, I can't think of anybody off top my head that would fit into quite deGrom's magnitude.” Over the last decade, no starter at any age has added more velocity to their fastball over any stretch of time than deGrom has. Caravan cited research done by Jeff Zimmermann at FanGraphs that showed the average pitcher lost 2 mph on his fastball from age 26 to 32. DeGrom gained more than 4 mph during that span of his career. To try to contextualize this, I looked at the top 15 pitchers by wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs, since 2008, which was when Pitch F/X tracking started....

[FIMG=666]https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2021/05/05002340/0429-deGrom-Top-15-without-Jake-e1620224663382.jpg[/FIMG]



Oh wait, I forgot to include deGrom in that one. Let's see if he stands out.



[FIMG=666]https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2021/05/05002334/0429-deGrom-Top-15-Velo-e1620224680321.jpg[/FIMG]



https://theathletic.com/2556671/2021/05/05/how-is-the-mets-jacob-degrom-throwing-this-hard-and-still-getting-better-ive-never-seen-anything-like-it/https://theathletic.com/2556671/2021/05/05/how-is-the-mets-jacob-degrom-throwing-this-hard-and-still-getting-better-ive-never-seen-anything-like-it/

[G-Fafif]

[Benjamin Grimm]

Well, obviously we have to hope that's accurate. We've all seen day-to-day take a turn for the worse plenty of times before, so who knows?

[G-Fafif]

[batmagadanleadoff]

Meanwhile, deGrom's leading the NL in just about every pitching rate stat.

[Edgy MD]

He increased his walk total by 75% in one inning.



And still only gave up a single run.

[Ceetar]

isn't it 15 day IL for pitchers though? Or did that not happen? It's hard to keep track of Manfred's nonsense.

[batmagadanleadoff]

deGrom to IL.

[MFS62]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=63809 time=1620677155 user_id=68]
deGrom to IL.

[Edgy MD]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=63809 time=1620677155 user_id=68]
deGrom to IL.

[kcmets]

Won't happen until tomorrow retroactive to today and move will be announced then.

Edited May 10, 2021 by Guest

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: deGrom to IL. Why I don't doubt this is happening, do you have a source saying this has already hap'd? Is there a corresponding move?

Here's this:



https://www.mlb.com/news/jacob-degrom-side-injury-updatehttps://www.mlb.com/news/jacob-degrom-side-injury-update



plus, I saw the move reported on an MLB network chyron.

[Frayed Knot]

Three off days in the next ten [Mon - Thurs - Thurs] makes this easier to endure.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It's too bad Carrasco isn't ready to step in. I guess for now I'd go with Stroman, Walker, Peterson, Yamamoto, Reid-Foley. (With Lucchesi and Gsellman on stand-by?)

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: Three off days in the next ten [Mon - Thurs - Thurs] makes this easier to endure.

Probably. But I see it differently. All these off days, plus the disproportionately high number of Mets games already canceled that will be made up as doubleheaders, plus this upcoming IL stint for deGrom, and that he's already one or two starts behind pitchers who haven't missed a start this season, doesn't bode well for the Mets or for deGrom. This will end up costing deGrom about four starts when it's all said and done. And that's assuming deGrom doesn't miss any more starts because of his health.

Edited May 10, 2021 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

Edgy MD wrote: deGrom to IL. Why I don't doubt this is happening, do you have a source saying this has already hap'd? Is there a corresponding move? Here's this: https://www.mlb.com/news/jacob-degrom-side-injury-updatehttps://www.mlb.com/news/jacob-degrom-side-injury-update plus, I saw the move reported on an MLB network chyron.

Thanks. That suggests it's still in the will be stage. MRC needed to know as they scramble to keep up.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: Three off days in the next ten [Mon - Thurs - Thurs] makes this easier to endure. Probably. But I see it differently. All these off days, plus the disproportionately high number of Mets games already canceled that will be made up as doubleheaders, plus this upcoming IL stint for deGrom, and that he's already one or two starts behind pitchers who haven't missed a start this season, doesn't bode well for the Mets or for deGrom. This will end up costing deGrom about four starts when it's all said and done. And that's assuming deGrom doesn't miss any more starts because of his health.

He'll make up those 4-5 starts in October though, when most pitcher's are done for the year.

[Lefty Specialist]

Yeah, this is a good way to rest up his arm for the postseason (jinx)

[batmagadanleadoff]

If everthing goes well, deGrom might start as early as this Friday. Or the Mets might give deGrom a rehab start in the minors before his next major league start.

[Ceetar]

It's the Marlins. how much lower can you go?

[batmagadanleadoff]

deGrom is scheduled to throw a bullpen session today that will determine whether his next start is for real and in the majors or for rehab in the minors.

[G-Fafif]

Jacob will make a rehab start with St. Lucie tomorrow.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

=G-Fafif post_id=64756 time=1621459498 user_id=55]
Jacob will make a rehab start with St. Lucie tomorrow.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Be sure to take note of which catcher they use.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Jake is wearing No. 11 for his rehab game!

[Edgy MD]

That's good knowledge!



Follow along https://www.milb.com/gameday/mets-vs-cardinals/2021/05/20/648463#game_state=preview,game_tab=,game=648463here evuhbody!

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Be sure to take note of which catcher they use.

Alvarez is warming him up for long toss.

[Edgy MD]

https://www.milb.com/st-lucie/fans/audio-listen-liveListen live!



Alvarez catching and batting third. Backup catcher Matt Dyer playing first. Fourteen hundred fans = sellout!