New York Mets pitcher, Jacob deGrom‘s season struggles continued in yesterday’s 5-4 win over the Brewers. For the second time this season, Jake was only able to get through five innings of work.
In a not so familiar way, he struggled, unable to have the pinpoint control he normally does. He allowed a season-high four runs, while walking three. He gave up five hits, but still was able to strikeout a season-high seven Brewers in yesterday’s contest. This was the first time since June 2014 where he walked three batters in back-to-back games. Manager, Terry Collins, is at a loss on what may be going on with parts of his young pitching staff.
“The radar gun popped up a little bit, but his command wasn’t real good,” Collins said. “[100] pitches in five innings is not Jacob deGrom, not even close. The thing that’s made him successful is strikes down in the zone. [There were] a lot of balls up in the zone, so obviously he was a little bit out of whack, so we’ve got to get that corrected because this guy is too good a pitcher to throw that many pitches and to be in those deep counts like he was.” (NY Post)
He was able to consistently hit 95 MPH on the radar gun, an encouraging sign going forward. His control issues though may have been a case of him trying to over compensate for the consistent talk of a lacking velocity. Something he admitted to as a possibility after the game.
“Early on, I felt like my stuff felt like it was good,” deGrom said. “I don’t know if I was trying to do too much, trying to overthrow or something, but I just wasn’t locating.”
Jake’s record stayed at 3-1 on the season, but he did see his ERA rise to 3.07 from 2.50. His ERA in May alone is at 4.63 over four starts, very uncharacteristic for the all-star pitcher. It took him 100 pitches to get through his five innings, 65 of which were thrown for strikes. Ultimately he feels the walks are what are of the most concern currently, negating him from being able to pitch deep into the game.
“My biggest concern was the walks,” deGrom said. “That’s not ideal, doesn’t help with the pitch count. My goal is to go deep in this game and five innings isn’t what I wanted to do. … I was just having a hard time locating the fastball, a bunch of 3-2 counts, too. I’d like to do better.”
In a season where Matt Harvey has also faltered, it is concerning to see the two all-star pitchers struggling early on. Jake to his credit, even though not having his normal velocity, has been able to pitch successfully still and gut through each performance prior to yesterday. Getting these two on track is vital to a successful season for the Metropolitans.
