The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2 on Friday with four runs in the seventh, a preview of what’s to come this season against the Phillies deplorable bullpen. Good teams score but great teams score late (see last two World Series Champions).
Two quick points from last night’s victory:
Jacob deGrom (W, 1-0) 6.0 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 6 SO, 0 BB
Jacob deGrom left the game after six innings due to a sore lat. It was clear it bothered him during the game.
Normally, deGrom has one of the quickest, most explosive core rotations in his pitching motion. DeGrom uses his glove hand to pull in towards his body allowing his core to rotate quicker and his throwing arm to come through with less stress and more speed. Yesterday, deGrom was slightly dropping his front glove hand resulting in less core rotation and forcing deGrom to compensate by throwing more with his arm.
The reason deGrom didn’t pull as hard with his glove hand was due to tenderness in his back. This effects the normal timing and rhythm of deGrom’s motion, negatively effecting velocity, command and movement of all pitches. The result is his fastball sitting 91 to 93 mph, below his normal mid-90’s and his off-speed pitches having flatter break and less command compared to his 2015 campaign.
Additionally, this start speaks to two points:
- DeGrom showed his confidence and competitiveness, attacking the strike zone regardless of below average velocity and movement compared to his normal repertoire. DeGrom issued zero walks, throwing 71% strikes including a 16% whiff/miss rate with his fastball. Let this be a lesson to young pitchers to challenge hitters because hitters aren’t that good….
- Especially Phillies hitters. Their lineup is horrific, especially without Maikel Franco, which certainly helps an unhealthy deGrom battle through six successful innings.
Left-side of Mets Infield
For the first time in a long time, the left-side of the Mets infield looks healthy and defensively sound. Obviously, David Wright’s health is still in question but it was great to see his charging bare-hand throw to first base which we haven’t seen successfully done in two years.
More importantly, Asdrubal Cabrera made three above average defensive plays, charging and diving in the second inning and tough play up the middle in the sixth inning, showing good range and a strong arm.
Thanks to @BrooksBaseball PitchFX tool for pitching statistics.
Follow Chris Zaccherio on Twitter @ziography for more Mets insight going beyond statistics.
