Tracking Jacob deGrom’s 2021 season: Start #10

In the tenth start of his 2021 season, Jacob deGrom was once again brilliant. He struck out ten, didn’t walk anyone, and allowed just one hit in six scoreless innings of work, and he has a 0.56 ERA on the season. That’s the best ERA through the first ten starts of a pitching season in the history of ERA.

The only downside to the start as that deGrom left it a bit early, citing right flexor tendonitis. But following the game, the 32-year-old said he was healthy, and and MRI the following day came back clean. At the moment, he’s still on track to make his next regularly scheduled start on Wednesday.

As far as the Cy Young race goes, deGrom’s ERA is the best in all of baseball. Lance Lynn of the White Sox ranks second with a 1.23 ERA, and in the National League, it’s Kevin Gausman who is closest to deGrom with a 1.43 ERA. Despite having made three or four fewer starts than everyone he trails in strikeouts, deGrom ranks seventh with 103. His 46.2 percent strikeout rate is the best in the game among starters, and he’s the only pitcher who’s even north of 40 percent in that metric. As if that weren’t enough, deGrom’s 3.6 percent walk rate is the fourth-best among the same group of pitchers.

As for the Mets historical comparison, deGrom continues to outpace his best season and compare favorably to two of the other very best seasons in Mets history, one each from Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden.