Jacob deGrom has been a pleasant surprise for the Mets this year. Over at Fangraphs, Eno Sarris wrote an excellent piece on his developing arsenal of pitches—a big reason for the rookie's early success. Of course, no one really saw deGrom's breakout year coming. Sarris writes:
"During his minor league career, Jacob deGrom had a 3.62 ERA and struck out batters at about a league-average rate. Those are OK numbers, but without the context of his actual stuff, it’s not surprising he’d never been featured on Baseball America’s top 100 prospect list..."
He goes on to mention deGrom's work in Port St. Lucie with Johan Santana, touch upon deGrom's new mix of pitches, and even has a couple great photos of deGrom's pitch grips.
The result is a once-over-age prospect who's finally getting the recognition he deserves. deGrom was named NL rookie of the month in July but hit the disabled list on August 11 with rotator cuff tendinitis. The Mets are expected to activate him to start on Saturday in Los Angeles, and fans and teammates alike look forward to his return.