DeGrom Stellar In Binghamton Debut Despite 1-0 Loss

Portland 1, Binghamton 0

I attended the game and charted Jacob DeGrom’s pitching stats on the hunch that tonight could be special. The kid was stellar; polished, poised, a smooth and effortless delivery, and he simply pounded the strike zone. I don’t think I’ve seen a B-Met pitcher pitch a game like this since Scott Kazmir many years back.

Here’s DeGrom’s pitching line:

8.0 IP – 1 ER – 3 H – 1 XBH – 1 BB – 8 K

The statistics are even more impressive when you break them down. Take a look at this.

Total Pitches: 102, Strikes: 71 – 69% Balls 31
Full Windup: Pitches: 90, Strikes: 62 – 70% Balls: 28
Fastballs: Pitches: 66 Strikes: 46 – 70% Balls 20
Off-Speed Pitches: 24 Strikes: 16 – 67% Balls 8
Stretch: Pitches: 12 Strikes: 9 – 75% Balls 3
Fastballs: Pitches: 7 Strikes: 4 -57% Balls 4
Off-Speed Pitches 5 Strikes 5 – 100%

DeGrom’s fastball range stretched from 86 to 96. He threw only six of 66 fastballs in the 80′s. It was hard to classify his off-speed pitch that ranged from 78-83, but generally fell between 81-83. I asked a B-Met pitcher sitting behind home plate and charting what his pitch was and he said it was a changeup. It did appear to tail away from left-handed hitters and I thought I saw a small downward drop occasionally against righthanded batters, so I wasn’t sure. What I was sure about was it’s effectiveness.

DeGrom retired the first seven batters of the game. The seventh hitter sent a scorching grounder up the middle that hit DeGrom’s foot and was turned into a 1-4-3 putout. It seemed to rattle him just a bit. His next three pitches were out of the strike zone, before he threw three straight strikes (the last a foul ball) and then surrendered his first AA hit.

A high first pitch in the fourth inning,a pitch off the plate but Xander Bogaerta reached and got just enough of it to place a soft popup that hit the rightfield line not too far beyond the infield. It resulted in a leadoff double. Bogaerta moved to third on a weak infield groundout to short and scored on a sacrifice fly to centerfield.

DeGrom retired his final 12 batters in a row with only three balls hit out of the infield. His 101st pitch registered at 91 mph. The kid was brilliant.

Portland’s Brandon Workman proved Met fans aren’t the only fans excited about pitching prospects. He threw seven innings, allowing four hits, striking out nine and walking none. Workman and DeGrom gave the sparse crowd an old-fashioned pitching duel.

The B-Mets had a pair of two-hit innings but couldn’t scratch out a run for DeGrom. Some efficient outfield play and the cannon arm of Sea Wolf left fielder Tony Thomas helped keep the B-Mets off the board. Thomas gunned down Wilfredo Thomas going first to third to kill a rally in the second inning.

When Allan Dykstra sent a screamer down the leftfield line to lead off the B-Met eighth it looked like a double. But, Thomas played the ball perfectly and unleashed a rocket to second that had Dykstra scrambling to get back to first. Corey Vaughn failed to advance Josh Rodriguez who pinch ran for Dykstra. That proved costly when Blake Forsythe singled to right sending Rodriguez to third. But Daniel Muno looked at a third strike and Wifredo Tovar swung and missed a third strike and that was that.

Darrell Ceciliani had two hits for the B-Mets, but the real story in Binghamton was quality starting pitching, for Met fans – the stellar AA debut of Jacob DeGrom.