Jacob deGrom has been voted the National League Rookie of the Month for September. The 26-year-old righty was 2-0 in four September starts, leading MLB rookie pitchers with 38 strikeouts, which also ranked fourth overall in the NL.
DeGrom posted a 1.67 ERA i 27.0 IP which was the top mark among qualifying NL rookies and ranked 10th overall in the Senior Circuit.
He finished his rookie campaign by earning his ninth victory on September 21st at Atlanta, fanning 10 Braves batters in 6.0 innings of work en route to a 10-2 win. It was the fourth double-digit strikeout game in 22 Major League contests.
Unlike in the American League where Jose Abreu won the award in three of six months (and will likely win AL ROY), deGrom stands as the only player to win the award twice this season in the National League. Billy Hamilton, Chris Owings, Kolten Wong and Kyle Hendricks also took home top rookie honors this year.
This sets the stage for deGrom to win Rookie of the Year. That award should be handed out at the beginning of November.
September 29
At the start of the year, expectations were low for Mets rookie Jacob deGrom. As a 26-year old pitcher at Triple-A Las Vegas, many believed that he did not have the talent to develop into a top starting pitcher. As it turns out, most pre-season predictions could not have been more wrong, and deGrom dominated with a 9-6 record, 2.64 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 140 innings pitched.
DeGrom’s ERA ranked within the top ten in the National League among pitchers with at least 140 innings. He also ranked 6th in NL in strikeouts per nine innings and he tied the MLB record for most consecutive strikeouts to begin a game with eight whiffs.
Given deGrom’s obscurity in the minors, his excellent performance this season went unnoticed around the league for most of the year. However, deGrom was so good down the stretch that many analysts are now tabbing him for top rookie honors, and some (Ken Rosenthal) even changed their minds as recently as a few days ago.
“DeGrom has been one of the best starters in the whole NL,” Stark explains, who points out that deGrom has the second-best ERA in the National League during his last 15 starts, topped only by Clayton Kershaw, who will likely win the Cy Young award. “So if a guy is in that kind of company, would YOU have any regrets about handing him a Rookie of the Year trophy? Not me.”
“For whatever reason, the favorite for the NL award seems to be Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton, a very exciting player who has racked up 56 stolen bases and played a very nice center field while batting a solid .259. But while he has had a nice year, his OPS-plus is 87, which is below average.”
“Mets fans can stop tweeting at me now. I take it back. I TAKE IT ALL BACK! DeGrom kept improving, pitching to a 1.33 ERA, holding opponents to a .457 OPS and producing a 38-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio in September. He’s fun to watch. And yes, he’s Rookie of the Year.”
Las Vegas odds-maker Bovada, now has deGrom as the heavy favorite to win the award with 1-to-3 odds, far ahead of Cincinnati’s Billy Hamilton who’s now dropped to 2-to-1.
It is great to see deGrom finally get the recognition he deserves. His emergence this season has been the biggest bright spot of the year, and he should be a lock to win the award as he has clearly outperformed Billy Hamilton. If deGrom somehow loses the vote, it will be because of Hamilton’s greater popularity and not his performance.
