Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
On Friday night at Citi Field, Jacob deGrom was absolutely brilliant in his start against the Washington Nationals. His line is worth yet another look: 9.0 IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 15K. That’s epic.
As I watched the game, my thoughts went back to the best single-season pitching performance I have ever seen, Dwight Gooden in 1985. I saw Tom Seaver in the mid-1970s, and by all means, he was the pre-eminent pitcher of his time and perhaps of all time. However, my memories of Gooden’s 1985 season are clearer, because I was old enough to have a true appreciation for his work.
I decided to have a little fun and put out a Twitter question. I asked those old enough to recall the 1985 season for their thoughts on the dominance of Gooden in that season and deGrom’s pitching mastery in 2021. I expected a few responses. I received hundreds. As I sorted through them, the responses fell into a few categories that I will review in a bit.
First, let’s take a look at some numbers, recognizing that the sample sizes are not close to the same. In 1985 for Gooden through a full season:
ERA: 1.53
WHIP: 0.965
K/9: 8.7
BB/9: 2.2
FIP: 2.13
For deGrom in 2021 through through April 23:
ERA: 0.31
WHIP: 0.552
K/9: 15.5
BB/9: 0.9
FIP: 0.86
Here are the general categories of responses.
Evaluating Different Eras Is Difficult
This is a good point. The people who brought this up referenced the prevalence of the strikeout in baseball in the mid-1980s compared to the modern-day game. Players did not strike out as much 35 years ago. In fact, the numbers are very telling. In MLB in 1985, there was a total of 22, 451 strikeouts. In the last full season of 2019, there were 42,823 strikeouts (with four more teams). For further context, in two of Seaver’s best seasons there were 22.473 strikeouts in 1969 and 19,280 whiffs in 1975, when Seaver had K/9 rates of 6.8 and 7.8 respectively.
Using deGrom’s strikeouts per game as a comparative metric loses contextual significance. It surprised me to see Gooden’s K/9 rate, as before looking at the numbers, I would have thought it were much higher. His highest K/9 was 11.4 in his rookie season of 1984, which seems even more impressive when considering there were half as many strikeouts in the game at that time.
Pitching Style
This was an interesting angle that many people took. Gooden was mostly a two-pitch pitcher. He featured a blazing fastball, and an incredible 12-to-6 curveball that often froze hitters who had to look for the fastball. Doc was basically pure power with a nasty curve.
DeGrom, though he throws very hard, registering the most pitches over 100 mph in the game, takes a more cerebral approach to his craft. He will use pure power, but also go to his secondary pitches, his slider that he throws roughly 26 percent of the time, a changeup that he features about ten percent of the time, and a curveball that he will use between two and ten percent of his pitches.
Many identified similarities between deGrom and Seaver in their overall pitching styles. Both pitchers have (or had) an almost unfair mix of offerings to not only overpower hitters, but keep them guessing as well.
Fan Reaction
Several respondents noted how the fan base responded to Gooden’s starts versus the modern reaction when deGrom takes the mound. In the 1980s, Gooden’s outings were must-see television. There was a giant painting of “Dr.K” on a building in midtown Manhattan. Some said that fans would mark their calendars according to Gooden’s starts, and plan their lives around them so as not to miss a pitch.
While deGrom has certainly captured the minds of the fans, and universally we look forward to his starts, the fervor is probably not quite at the level seen when Doc would toe the rubber. A major reason for this is the difference in the competitive nature of the Mets’ teams in the two eras. The 1980s Mets were perpetual contenders, while the teams for which deGrom has worked have not been nearly as successful (with the exception of post season play in 2015 and 2016).
Keith Hernandez addressed this topic during the broadcast of Friday night’s game. He said that having seen both Gooden and deGrom up close, he’s never seen any pitching performances as dominant as those deGrom is fashioning for the current Mets. That’s a strong and credible statement.
The point of all of this isn’t to say one pitcher is “better” than the other. It’s simply to think about the dominance we are seeing from deGrom, and reflect upon how it is the same as, and different than, Gooden’s best season of 1985 (24-4, Cy Young award).
Some Mets fans have seen Seaver, Gooden, and deGrom. Others have seen some combination of them. While things are not always great in the world of the New York Mets, it’s a gift that we have had the pleasure of having all three of them take the mound in Queens.
