New York Mets starter Jacob deGrom breezed through his final outing before taking the hill on Opening Day next Thursday afternoon in Washington, DC versus the Nationals, striking out five Atlanta Braves over three perfect innings of work (40 pitches).
The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner pitched a perfect first inning, retiring Ozzie Albies on a fly out to left field, shortstop Dansby Swanson on a grounder to his counterpart, Amed Rosario, and inducing another groundball from the Braves’ All-Star first-baseman Freddie Freeman.
DeGrom struck out Ronald Acuna and Tyler Flowers to begin the second inning, then got Johan Camargo to ground out to shortstop to end his second perfect frame. Not to be outdone, deGrom struck out the side in his final inning of work, setting down Adam Duvall, Rafael Ortega, and Garrison Schwartz to conclude his afternoon and his 2019 Grapefruit League schedule.
After the game, he commented on a couple of things including his contract extension promises (or lack thereof) and on the Devin Mesoraco situation.
“He had texted me last night. I was driving home. So I called him for a bit. I threw the ball really well to him. He is going to be missed. Great guy. I wish him the best.”
The 30-year-old right-hander finishes his 2019 Spring Training with a 3.00 ERA with 20 strikeouts, two walks, and a 1.15 WHIP over five starts (15 innings).
After putting up arguably one of the best pitching seasons in Mets history last year (1.70 ERA, 1.99 FIP, 2.60 xFIP, 269 strikeouts, 46 walks, just 10 home runs allowed, and 0.91 WHIP over 32 starts; 217 innings), and taking home the most prestigious hardware an active hurler can attain, I’d say Jacob deGrom is right where he’d like to be heading into the 2019 season.
