Mets Player Performance Meter: Pitchers, April 9-15

The Mets’ bullpen continues to be lights out, which has been essential for the Mets’ success with their starters failing to go deep into games. In fact, Zack Wheeler’s first start of 2018 was the longest for any Mets’ starter this season. It appears Noah Syndergaard may also be hitting his stride, which would be very big for the Mets.

Noah Syndergaard is the only member of the starting rotation to have two starts this week. He pitched 11 ¹⁄₃ innings over those two starts to a 0.79 ERA, striking out 16 batters. The Mets could still use some more length out of him, but this seems like the Thor we know and love. His most recent start in particular featured some of the nastiest stuff we’ve seen from him this season.

Speaking of nasty stuff, Jeurys Familia has looked very good this week, racking up three saves and not allowing a run while striking out seven. He looks like the Familia of old, reintroducing his splitter back into his repertoire.

Robert Gsellman, too, still looks incredibly sharp coming out of the pen, using his two-seam sinker with great results. He did not allow a run in his 2 ¹⁄₃ innings of work this week and sports a very nice 0.70 xFIP for the week with five strikeouts.

Hansel Robles continues to impress and has probably cemented his place in the bullpen after his brief stint in Las Vegas to start the season. Is he really fixed? Probably too early to tell, but he has been incredibly successful. He owns a 13.5 K/9 this week and has stranded all of his inherited runners over four innings pitched.

Meanwhile, Jerry Blevins keeps doing Jerry Blevins things. Mickey Callaway seems to be opting to use him exclusively as a LOOGY for now. He only has one inning total under his belt this week, but has recorded a couple of king-sized outs, as usual, and did not allow a run.

A.J. Ramos has yet to allow a run this season, but his success rests on somewhat more tenuous ground. He is walking more hitters than the other pitchers on the staff; he sports an 18 BB/9 this week and an 11.32 xFIP. However, the results are there for Ramos so far this year.

Matt Harvey took the loss in his start on Saturday against the Brewers and seemed to be generating a lot of hard contact. However, he is still striking batters out and inducing whiffs on his pitches, which remains an encouraging sign. He struck out six in his five innings of work on Saturday and three of the runs he allowed came on a somewhat wind-aided home run by Jonathan Villar. However, he has yet to pitch in the sixth inning in any of his starts.

However, the silver lining of the Mets’ loss on Saturday was Paul Sewald’s stellar performance, pitching three scoreless innings in relief of Harvey. He has struck out five batters this week and not walked a single batter. It was Sewald that remained on the team when Zack Wheeler was promoted to join the rotation rather than Jacob Rhame, who only made one appearance this week before being sent down to Triple-A Las Vegas. It is probable that we will see Rhame again at some point this season, as Mickey Callaway continues to mix and match his relievers.

Seth Lugo faced ten batters this week, all in Friday night’s game, allowing only one solo homer to Travis Shaw and inducing a key double play to keep the Mets in the game.

Wheeler’s start against the Marlins on Wednesday was arguably the best of any Mets’ pitcher this week. He threw seven innings, something the rest of the rotation has yet to accomplish. He struck out seven and allowed just one run on a solo homer. His stock is certainly rising, as he tries to make the case to remain with the big league team upon Jason Vargas’ return to the rotation.

Jacob deGrom took a no-decision in his start on Tuesday, throwing six innings and allowing four runs. He allowed all four of those runs in the fifth inning. While his final line may not have been so great, he still struck out six and generated 14 swinging strikes, looking mostly like himself.

Steven Matz’s season remains a mixed bag so far. He did not look as sharp in his start on Friday night as he looked against the Nationals in his previous start, however, all of the runs against him came via the long ball on a few mistakes Matz probably wished he could get back. He only allowed three hits in total, walking two and striking out five in 5 ¹⁄₃ innings. He went four innings without allowing a hit before getting tagged for four runs, three of them earned. It was enough to earn him the win.