Reliving Jacob DeGrom’s Five Most Dominant Starts From 2021

The past few months have been tough on the New York Mets and the fanbase. But, you know, we’re in the aftermath of Thanksgiving, and there’s a saying out there that you should spend time counting your blessings, not your troubles.

For just a few moments, let’s not think about how it took about 10 years for New York to hire a general manager in Billy Eppler. Or, that Steven Matz didn’t actually want to come back home to Flushing. Or, that the Mets still don’t have a manager.

Or… well, you get the picture, let’s focus on the good stuff. And if we’re being honest, one of the greatest things we can be thankful for as a Mets fan is Jacob deGrom. We haven’t seen him take the mound in an MLB game since July and there are some questions surrounding him heading into 2022, but every time he takes the mound, it seems like magic happens.

So with that in mind, we’re going to look back on the five most dominant starts from his abbreviated, but incredibly dominant, 2021 campaign.

April 23, 2021 vs. Washington Nationals

Stats: 9 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 15 Ks

FanGraphs Game Score: 105

DeGrom put together a bunch of impressive outings over the years, especially since 2018 when he started winning Cy Young awards. Of all the times he’s dominated while with the Mets, this is his best work of all. The right-hander has struck out 14 hitters in a single start on six different occasions, but on this particular night, he pushed past that number to set a new single-game high for himself. The 105 Game Score from FanGraphs is also the highest in his career. The next closest is 96, which he did on July 17th, 2016 against the Phillies by tossing a one-hit shutout with one walk and seven strikeouts.

Going back to his performance against the Nats, they obviously didn’t do much the few times they actually put the ball in play, either — Washington hitters posted a 14.3% hard-hit rate and 64.3% ground-ball rate on this night.

June 5, 2021 vs. San Diego Padres

Stats: 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 11 Ks

FanGraphs Game Score: 85

In the three starts prior to this one, deGrom had thrown his fastball at least 67.1% of the time. He used this appearance against the Padres to make a shift, though. While he tossed his fastball at a 51.8% clip, he made the most of it by averaging 100.4 mph on the gun — his highest average fastball velocity of any start last season. That drop in usage went straight to his slider, which he threw at a 40.0% clip.

As mentioned before, this was the start of a significant shift in pitch mix. DeGrom’s slider usage was 40.0% or higher in each of his final seven starts after hitting that number just once through his first eight. The numbers on this pitch for the year were pretty insane, too. Opposing hitters mustered a .287 OPS and -20 wRC+ off that offering from the Mets’ ace, which was accompanied by a 1.7% walk rate and a 59.0% strikeout rate.

It’s also worth noting that out of these five performances, this was the only time deGrom allowed a walk.

June 11, 2021 vs. San Diego Padres

Stats: 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 10 Ks

FanGraphs Game Score: 84

If an opponent sees the same starting pitcher twice in a short period of time, there’s usually a better chance of the hitters having more success the second time around. Obviously, deGrom is exempt from that because he was equally dominant when he faced the Padres a few days later at Citi Field. This was the second straight start in which deGrom posted a first-pitch strike rate of exactly 50.0%. He’d do it once more before his season came to a halt, but this was the lowest single-game rate he produced all year, and it was especially low when considering his season-long rate checked in at 63.0%.

The 33-year-old’s fastball usage dropped for the fourth consecutive start to 47.5%, and while his slider usage held strong at 40.0%, he threw his changeup at a 12.5% clip. Over his final nine starts, this was the only occurrence in which he used that pitch more than 7.5% of the time. It’s not like hitters could do anything with that pitch, either — they posted a .317 OPS and -9 wRC+ with a 0.0% walk rate and a 51.7% strikeout rate against it.

April 10, 2021 vs. Miami Marlins

Stats: 8 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 14 Ks

FanGraphs Game Score: 83

Believe it or not, the Mets’ offense did enough to reward deGrom with wins in four out of these five starts. It’s helpful when he doesn’t allow any runs while he’s on the mound, of course. The above April start against the Marlins was the lone time in these five appearances where he actually gave up a run, which was a solo homer to Jazz Chisholm. While I remember feeling dejected after this game because deGrom’s efforts were wasted, it was still an incredible performance.

It was his second start of the year, and the first of four times he’d strike out at least 14 in a single game. Three of those occasions came in consecutive starts, as he punched out 14 against the Marlins before doing the same against the Colorado Rockies a week later, and then reaching 15 against the Nationals in the start after that. He posted a whopping 53.8% strikeout rate and a 1.3% walk rate during that stretch while throwing his fastball 60.4% of the time. Overall for the season, opposing hitters managed just a .301 OPS and a 39 wRC+ with a 35.2% strikeout rate against deGrom’s four-seamer.

May 31, 2021 vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

Stats: 6 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 8 Ks

FanGraphs Game Score: 80

DeGrom typically relies heavily on his fastball during his first trip through an opposing team’s lineup, and he did that quite well against the Dbacks, with his first 10 fastballs eclipsing 100 mph. He averaged an even 100 mph with that pitch in this start, and with a 67.1% usage rate, it was the last time he threw it as often as he did. Arizona didn’t have a chance against him through his six innings — they hit fly balls at a 16.7% rate, but half of them were pop-ups. They also generated a 58.3% ground-ball rate to go along with a 33.3% soft-hit rate and a 16.7% hard-hit rate.

All of these performances were eye-popping in their own way (and I didn’t even talk about what he did with the bat). I’m thankful to watch this dude get to work every fifth day, and I’m hoping he’s healthy enough to do it from Game 1 to Game 162 in 2022.