Before last night’s loss, the Mets led the National League in ERA. After Steven Matz‘ dud last night, the Mets are now ranked sixth. They went from a 2.08 ERA to a 3.40 ERA. It’s a warning of overlying on small sample sizes.
It’s also a reminder that it’s really about the process. While it’s a results oriented business, the pitching coach needs to focus on things like the pitcher’s mechanics and not his ERA.
In that respect, Dan Warthen has some work to do as three of his starters have some mechanical issues.
Steven Matz
Last night, Matz was terrible. There are a number of things you can point to as the reason like the long layoff. However, as Kevin Kernan reported in the NY Post, Matz’s mechanics may have been to blame:
“He looks like a young guy who needs a month in Triple-A to clean up some things,” one veteran scout at the game told the Post.
Looking at last night’s game, there was no doubt Matz needs some work. He wasn’t fooling anyone last night, and the Marlins were on top of his pitches. Preferably, Matz can do that work with Dan Warthen instead of Triple-A. Regardless of where he does it, Matz needs to get himself right.
Jacob deGrom
The talk throughout Spring Training was Jacob deGrom‘s fastball ranging between 91 – 93 MPH. That is down from the 96 MPH fastball he averaged last year. There were a number of reasons posted why that was the case from him starting getting ready for the season later to him saving bullets for the regular season to him getting nicked up a couple of times during Spring Training.
In his first start of the season, deGrom was still averaging 92 MPH. Some said there was no need for caution because he looked dominant at times even without the extra velocity on the fastball. Some later speculated it might’ve been the result of his lat injury.
However, on the April 11th edition of MLB Tonight, Pedro Martinez stated that deGrom was dropping his arm angle. It was his belief that if deGrom fixed his arm angle the extra MPH could return to deGrom’s fastball.
Matt Harvey
This season is supposed to be the season for Matt Harvey. He’s another year removed from Tommy John surgery. He’s got his slider back. The only thing he had to worry about was going out there and dominating like he did in 2013.
It hasn’t started out that way. Harvey was 8-0 in the month of April coming into this season. This year he’s 0-2 with a 4.63 ERA and a 1.463 WHIP. At times, he seems to have difficulty locating pitches. Harvey isn’t blaming his bladder problems. As Neil Best of Newsday reported on Opening Day, it’s a mechanical issue:
“I felt alright,” Harvey said. “There were times I felt fine and other times when it was hard finding a rhythm and getting my release point.”
During Sunday’s loss to the Phillies, Harvey’s fortune changed on one bad pitch he left out over the plate. Again, as Kevin Kernan of the NY Post reported, it was a mechanical issue. “Harvey said he didn’t get the arm extension on the killer 1-2 slider.”
As Kernan further pointed out, the coaching staff is concerned enough for Dan Warthen to start “studying film to see what the issue is with Harvey.”
Dan Warthen has his work cut out for him. He’ll be hitting the books and studying film for at least three of his starters. Fortunately, it is still early in the season and the Mets have plenty of time to figure things out.
The pitching is going to be there, and yes, the offense will be there as well. However, while the offense is figuring things out, the Mets need their pitching. As we saw last year, this Mets staff can keep even the most abysmal of offenses afloat. As we saw last year, the Mets pitching can carry them to the World Series. And it’s the Mets pitching that is going to get them there again this year. On the plus side, in Warthen the Mets have one of the best pitching coaches in the game so expect these few issues to get resolved in short order.
