The Mets pitching staff currently ranks in the middle of the pack (14th) in all of baseball with 4.02 ERA from their pitching staff as a whole. Obviously, that is a far cry from what the Mets had envisioned from their pitching staff, but it is certainly still respectable.
Seth Lugo has been a big reason why the Mets ERA has remained that low.
The 28-year old is 1-0 this season with a mere 1.91 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 28 1/3 appearances that have spanned 17 games. He also has 28 strikeouts in that stretch.
Just for an idea of how good he has been, Lugo currently ranks eighth in all of baseball in ERA, minimum 28 innings pitched.
Lugo has been particularly good lately, as he currently has a 14 inning scoreless streak, in which he has not allowed a run since April 28.
Now, while it is impossible to say that Seth Lugo is more important to this team than Jacob deGrom or Noah Syndergaard, Lugo is proving to be the biggest X-factor for this team, as his bullpen prowess has surprised many and allowed the Mets to win games despite bad starts, as Lugo has been able to mop up many games and give the team a plethora of multiple inning relief appearances.
On top of it, he has also proven to be the Mets most effective weapon against left-handers early in the season, as he has held left-handers to a .067 average against him, which is the lowest mark in the majors with a minimum of 40 at-bats.
Jerry Blevins was supposed to be that guy for this team, but, so far, he has a 5.40 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in 8 1/3 innings pitched and has allowed same-handed batters to hit .261 against him.
With Blevins currently being the only lefty on the roster, Seth Lugo provides a tremendous benefit to the team, as they don’t have to call-up an ineffective left-hander like Buddy Baumann just to have a second lefty on the roster.
Instead, Lugo has proven to be the Mets swiss-army knife, as he can pitch one inning or he can pitch multiple innings, he can face a lefty or face a righty, and he might eventually prove to be able to start a game or close a game with ease.
Mickey Callaway has hinted in the past couple of weeks that Zack Wheeler‘s spot in the rotation could be in jeopardy. Vargas’ spot appeared to be, as well, until his five-inning shutout performance on Monday. Steven Matz, up until the last two weeks, appeared to be skating on thin ice as well.
Therefore, it certainly appears very plausible that Lugo could be forced to move to the rotation at some point, which he was initially named a part of in Spring Training before a rainout forced his spot to be skipped and allowed him to flourish in the bullpen.
Whatever the case, Seth Lugo has proven to be invaluable to this team and is one of the most important players on the roster right now.
