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

[Edgy MD]

We've got hi-tech calling ballz and strikez this evening.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Edgy MD wrote: 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!

I ordered tix online last night and think I got the last three. I tried to buy five, then four, and three went through. Last seats in the last row in the bleachers. Park is 21 percent capacity allowed.

[Edgy MD]

Double by Sherwyn Newton and a ground single by Alvarez and the Mets have runners on the corners with one out.

[Edgy MD]

DOUBLE BY ZACK ASHFORD! NEWTON SCORES!! HERE COMES ALVAREZ!!!!



OUT AT THE PLATE!!



WHAT'S GOING ON?!!! A FIRST-INNING LEAD FOR deGROM??!!

[Edgy MD]

First pitch = 100 MPH.

[Edgy MD]

Soft grounder on a 1-2 pitch. Throw misplayed by Dyer at first.



deGrom will be pitching from the stretch.



Runner steals on first pitch.

[Edgy MD]

Strikeout for the first out.



Apparently, he just hit 101.9.

[Edgy MD]

5-3 ends the inning after two strikeouts.

[Edgy MD]

Strikes out the side in the second. Poof. Five K's in two innings.

[ashie62]

Edgy MD wrote: Strikeout for the first out. Apparently, he just hit 101.9.

Like FM radio.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Out of the game but back on the bullpen mound to throw some more.

[bmfc1]

41 pitches (30 strikes) that could have been thrown tonight in Miami but whatever.

[kcmets]

Especially in these days of using an opener and bullpen games why not let him throw his 40-50

pitches in a real game? It's like a 100 miles between Port St Lucie and Miami.

[batmagadanleadoff]

It's looking like Tuesday at Citi against the Rockies for deGrom's MLB return.



https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/jacob-degrom-expected-to-rejoin-mets-rotation-ahead-of-tuesday-start-vs-rockies/https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/jacob-degrom-expected-to-rejoin-mets-rotation-ahead-of-tuesday-start-vs-rockies/

[nymr83]

It's looking like Tuesday at Citi against the Rockies for deGrom's MLB return. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/jacob-degrom-expected-to-rejoin-mets-rotation-ahead-of-tuesday-start-vs-rockies/https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/jacob-degrom-expected-to-rejoin-mets-rotation-ahead-of-tuesday-start-vs-rockies/

Nice to see they are easing him back into things, following a start in A-Ball with a start against a AA lineup.

[kcmets]

My bad, but Jupiter is even closer to Miami.

[G-Fafif]

Jake back on the mound for the New York (not St. Lucie or Syracuse) Mets Tuesday night.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Woo

[batmagadanleadoff]

Joe Posnanski on the incomparable Jacob deGrom:

He has allowed four earned runs in eight starts … and he has allowed three home runs, which suggests your best shot against him is to close your eyes and swing as hard as you can.

[Edgy MD]

I want to measure him against history with regards to his ration of runs allowed to RBI, but it's hard to find a site that''ll allow you do a database query producing pitching stats side-by-side with hitting stats for all qualifying pitchers in history, season by season. Also, the 19th century had a lot more hybrid Ohtani types who were pitchers and everyday players at the same time.

[Edgy MD]

For what it's worth, here's deGrom 2021 alongside the top RBI/ER seasons of Walter Johnson and Bob Gibson (two of the best pitchers ever who were also very good hitters) as well as Don Drysdale and Carlos Zambrano (two of the best hitting pitchers ever who were also All-Star pitchers).

[th]Pitcher[/th]	[th]Season[/th]	[th]PA[/th]	[th]RBI[/th]	[th]IP[/th]	[th]ER[/th]	[th]RBI/ER Ratio[/th]
	deGrom		2021		20		3		51.00		4		0.75
	=#FF0000]Johnson		1918		167		18		326.00		46		0.39
	=#FF0000]Johnson		1912		158		20		369.00		57		0.35
	=#FF0000]Johnson		1913		144		14		346.00		44		0.32
	=#FF0000]Johnson		1915		161		17		336.67		58		0.29
	=#FF0000]Johnson		1925		107		20		229.00		78		0.26
	=#BF0000]Gibson		1963		100		20		254.67		96		0.21
	=#BF0000]Drysdale		1965		138		19		308.33		95		0.20
	=#BF0000]Gibson		1965		119		19		299.00		102		0.19
	=#BF0000]Gibson		1970		124		19		294.00		102		0.19
	=#000080]Zambrano		2008		85		14		188.67		82		0.17
	=#BF0000]Gibson		1968		110		6		304.67		38		0.16
	=#000080]Zambrano		1972		106		12		278.00		76		0.16
	=#000080]Zambrano		2009		72		11		169.33		71		0.15
	=#BF0000]Drysdale		1962		126		14		314.33		99		0.14
	=#000080]Zambrano		2006		80		11		214.00		81		0.14
	=#BF0000]Drysdale		1958		72		12		211.67		98		0.12
	=#BF0000]Drysdale		1961		95		12		244.00		100		0.12
	=#BF0000]Drysdale		1959		104		12		270.67		104		0.12
	=#000080]Zambrano		2003		80		6		214.00		74		0.08

So, putting aside that I just selected a handful of guys based on rep, and the table is miles from conclusive, your takeaway might be that, historically, by this measure, no one sniffs Walter Johnson.



And so far, no Walter Johnson season sniffs Jacob deGrom.

[Frayed Knot]

I suspect it's been more than a few years since a pitcher has topped 100 ABs in a season now that we're in the era of 30 or fewer starts/year and 3 or fewer ABs/per

[Edgy MD]

And interleague play creating two or three starts per season where a pitcher doesn't come to the plate.



Anybody want to guess the last pitcher in baseball to clear 100 plate appearances in a season, and what season that was?

[Methead]

Edgy MD wrote: Anybody want to guess the last pitcher in baseball to clear 100 plate appearances in a season, and what season that was?

Is it Seaver '77?

[Methead]

Is it Seaver '77?

Narrator: "It isn't."

[Edgy MD]

No, a single 21st Century pitcher came to the plate 100 times in a single season.

[roger_that]

Since the Mets will have passed the one-third mark of the season by the next game that deGrom starts, this is a convenient point to project his accomplishments for the next two-thirds of 2021. Specifically, what will he need to do to break Bob Gibson's ERA record of 1.12?



A quick, back-of-the-envelope answer is simply to take his current distance from that mark (1.12 minus .61 equals .51) and cut that figure in half (about .25) and add that to 1.12.



That figure (1.37) represents the ERA that deGrom would have to reach, given an equal number of innings to his current pace) over the last two-thirds of the season in order to match Gibson's 1.12.



In other words, he is way ahead of Gibson's ERA, but would have to maintain a spectacular 1.37 ERA for nearly four more months, just to tie Gibson. No one has posted an ERA nearly as low as 1.37 since Gibson did it in 1968. The best anyone has done is Gooden's 1.53 in 1985.



So deGrom would still need to beat Gooden's Met record by a sixth of an earned run per nine innings from here on out just to tie Gibson's mark. It's still a very heavy lift.



We could compute this number more precisely, but of course precision is nearly impossible in such matters: deGrom's 2021 numbers—innings pitched, games started, earned runs—will rely on his luck and his health in addition to his skill. I think the figure of 1.37 is close enough to the mark, given all the unknown variables, that further precision is futile.



Of course, there is no way that he will come close to tying Gibson's number of innings pitched in 1968, so if he matches, or even beats, the 1.12 mark, there will be those who will credit Gibson with having accomplished a much harder task, and it's hard to argue with that point.



Multiplying his current stats by 3, he's on pace to go 15-6, with 174 IP in 27 games.

[G-Fafif]

Jacob deGrom returns microscopic earned run average to Elias Sports Bureau, http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2021/06/06/jake-from-state-we-cant-fathom/says he doesn't really need it.

[MFS62]

Carlton.

[kcmets]

Edgy MD wrote: No, a single 21st Century pitcher came to the plate 100 times in a single season.

All NIght Dwight aka Doc?