Players of the Week: DeGrom Dominates, McCann Stays Hot

The injury-riddled New York Mets wrapped up the month of May with a stellar 17-9 record, and sitting atop the National League East. Over the past few years, the month of June has been a bit of a nightmare for the team.

Getting off to a good start this season was huge. While they only ended up with a 3-3 record this week, they played much better than the record shows.

A four RBI return to the lineup for Pete Alonso carried the Mets to a series opening win on Monday night. They then dropped the second game in extras, but Alonso came through late in the third game to win the three-game set.

The Mets offense rallied late in the first two games in San Diego, but couldn’t complete the comebacks and they dropped two in a row. However, stellar pitching performances from Jacob deGrom and Marcus Stroman helped the Mets bounce back and split the series.

While it was certainly frustrating losing the first two in the fashion they did, the injury-plagued Mets rebounding to split a series on the road against a top team in baseball was certainly impressive.

The Mets certainly couldn’t have gotten it done without the lights-out pitching of ace Jacob deGrom and the power display of the scorching hot James McCann. For that reason, they are our Players of the Week for this past week.

Hitter of the Week: James McCann

This was certainly a tough one to pick for this week. Just to name a few top performers, Pete Alonso returned strong from the injured list, Dominic Smith has suddenly began to turn things around, and Francisco Lindor looked like the hitter the Mets expected him to be.

From top to bottom, the Mets offense had a really strong performance at the plate this week. Despite the 3-3 record, there was certainly a lot to like about their production over the past week.

With that being said, the turnaround of catcher James McCann over the past week or so has been incredible. Over his past eleven games, the veteran catcher is hitting .367 with a 1.214 OPS, three doubles, four home runs, and 11 RBI.

McCann helped carry the Mets to a series finale win over the Diamondbacks with three hits and four RBI. He kept the hot streak going this weekend, homering twice in San Diego. He has raised his OPS to .666 and now has six homers and 22 RBI on the season.

Hopefully the scorching hot McCann can keep this increased production up, and he can continue to help carry this injury-plagued Mets offense while the rest of the Mets’ regular heal up on the injured list.

McCann’s Stats for the Week: .260 AVG (6-for-23), 1 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI

Pitcher of the Week: Jacob deGrom

After having his ESPN Sunday Night Baseball start against the Atlanta Braves postponed due to rain, deGrom took the mound on Monday night in the series opener at Chase Field against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The right-hander was stellar yet again, closing out the month of May. In his second start back from the injured list, DeGrom needed just 70 pitches to toss six shutout innings, and allowed just two hits while striking out eight.

Over his three May starts, he earned a pair of wins, allowed just two runs, and posted a 1.13 ERA while striking out 23 over 16 innings of work. DeGrom carried that success into his first start of June.

With the Mets down 2-0 in the series, deGrom provided them with the exact effort they needed. Against the potent Padres offense, he tossed seven stellar shutout innings, while allowing just three hits, walking one, and striking out eleven.

Over nine starts on the season, deGrom is now 5-2 with an incredible 0.62 ERA, 0.57 WHIP, just four earned runs, eight walks, and 93 strikeouts over 58 innings of work. He’s expected take the mound next on Friday night at home against that same Padres offense.

DeGrom, Marcus Stroman, and Taijuan Walker has been one of the best trio’s in baseball to start the 2021 season.

DeGrom’s Stats for the Week: 2 W, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 19 K, 13.0 IP