Players of the Month: Dominant DeGrom, Clutch Canha Shine in August

The New York Mets wrapped up August play with an incredible 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Citi Field on Wednesday night. Jacob deGrom did his thing on the mound and was helped out by an amazing home-robbing catch by Brandon Nimmo.

After a live performance of Narco from Timmy Trumpet, Edwin Diaz came on and locked down his 29th save of the season. In an awesome game, the Mets put together one of their best wins of the season against the best team in baseball.

Buck Showalter’s squad endured a long and tough stretch of play, battling through some ups and downs, but overall performed pretty well during the month of August. On the month they finished 19-11 and remain atop the National League East with an 83-48 record heading into the final month of the season.

The Mets will begin the month with a rubber game with the Dodgers on Thursday afternoon and then they’ll hit a softer part of their schedule. That stretch begins with a three-game set against the Nationals at home this weekend.

But before we completely flip the page to September, here are the Mets Players of the Month for the month of August.

Pitcher of the Month: Jacob deGrom

Man, it’s nice to see Jacob deGrom’s name back atop our Players of the Month recipients. The best pitcher in baseball has returned from the injured list with an absolute bang, regaining his deGrominant form like he never left.

Even after missing a total of 391 days due to injuries, deGrom has reclaimed his stake above a handful of leaderboards.

For August he led all of baseball in the following categories; strikeout rate (43.0%), strikeout-to-walk percentage (40.6%), opponents batting average (.136 AVG), and swinging strike percentage (22.0%).

He also led the league with an incredible 0.55 WHIP, which was historically good. He joins just Clayton Kershaw and Jerry Reuss as the only three pitchers since 1920 to throw at least 35 innings in a month and record a WHIP of 0.55 or lower.

H/T to MMO’s own Mike Mayer for the great stats.   

In his six outings back, deGrom has put together a spectacular 1.98 ERA while walking just three batters and striking out 55. His most recent outing came in a huge spot on Wednesday night against the high-powered Dodgers.

As I briefly mentioned above, deGrom just went out and did his thing. He held the Dodgers hitless until a Justin Turner single in the fifth inning. He only allowed two other hits on the night, one of which was a Mookie Betts solo homer in the sixth.

DeGrom received some high praise from the Dodgers All-Star right-fielder postgame, as he told reporters, “he’s pretty much the best, maybe the best to ever pitch.”

DeGrom was helped out by a spectacular home-run robbing catch from Brandon Nimmo in the top of the seventh. The ace completed seven full innings for the first time this season, allowing just one run, three hits, walking one, striking out nine, and recording 25 swinging strikes.

Degrom was certainly the Pitcher of the Month not just for the Mets, but in all of baseball in his August return. It’s going to be fun watching the duo of deGrom and Max Scherzer carry this Mets team over the stretch and beyond. 

I also have to give a little shoutout to the third piece in that strong Mets rotation, Chris Bassitt, who also had an incredible month of August.

Across five starts, Bassitt went 4-0 and posted a 1.64 ERA, 1,14 WHIP, and 22 strikeouts in 33 innings pitched. His four wins finished tied for the league lead, and his stellar ERA finished tied for fourth in all of baseball.

Bassitt has been making a very strong case to stay in New York long-term. The Mets will need another big outing from the crafty right-hander as he takes the ball on Thursday afternoon in the rubber game with the Dodgers.

Hitter of the Month: Mark Canha

August has been Mark Canha’s time to shine as a New York Met. When he’s come up in a big moment during this red-hot stretch, he’s delivered time and time again for this ball club.

In 26 August games, Canha hit .292 with a .395 OBP, .978 OPS, nine doubles, and 17 RBI. He’s also delivered four homers, two of which came in huge spots in a big Sunday afternoon win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Canha has been really solid all year long, but he’s truly shined over this recent stretch. Particularly over his past 15 games, the veteran slugger is hitting .362 with a 1.210 OPS, eight doubles, four home runs, and he’s added 13 RBI to his total.

On the year he’s now up to a .275 average, .373 OBP, .794 OPS, eleven homers, 19 doubles, and 51 RBI in his first season in New York. As the year goes on he’s been hitting the ball harder and harder and has been tapping into some of his power potential.

Canha has been a rock-solid addition to this Mets lineup. He takes professional at-bats and makes the opposing pitcher work each time out there. He’s been great particularly with runners in scoring position, contributing a .289 average in such situations.

Canha wasn’t the only Met that rose to the occasion during the tough stretch of August baseball.

I also have to note the play of Jeff McNeil over this past month. After struggling a bit in July, the scrappy lefty rebounded with a .385 average, .974 OPS, 13 doubles, two homers, and 11 RBI performance over 29 games.

McNeil is now just fourth in all of baseball with a .318 average on the year, trailing only Paul Goldschmidt, Freddie Freeman, and Luis Arraez. Like Canha, he’s also been extremely clutch contributing a .339 average with runners in scoring position.

The Mets offense will look to get things rolling as they open this final month of the season with another tough matchup against veteran southpaw Clayton Kershaw on Thursday afternoon.