Mets’ Jacob deGrom cruises to NL Rookie of the Year
After Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox was unanimously voted the American League Rookie of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America, New York Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom cruised to the NL honors, picking up 26 of the 30 first-place votes, beating out Billy Hamilton of the Cincinnati Reds and Kolten Wong of the St. Louis Cardinals.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
deGrom was dominant in his first big league campaign, posting a 2.69 earned run average and 2.67 FIP across 140 1/3 innings. He was promoted to New York on May 15, tossing seven innings of one-run ball against the rival Yankees, scattering four hits and striking out six. The highlight of his season came four months later against the Miami Marlins, striking out a Major League-record eight straight batters to open the ballgame, en route to 13 punchouts in a 6-5 loss.
He also posted a sterling 1.14 WHIP, averaging 9.2 strikeouts per nine for the Mets, who lost ace Matt Harvey and should have one of the National League’s more formidable rotations in the years to come. While some of the award’s previous winners were seemingly destined to be the best of their rookie class, deGrom faced a more tumultuous road to the big leagues.
A CBS Sports report on the right-hander details his rise to the helm of the Mets rotation this year, including his 4.52 ERA and 1.47 WHIP with Triple-A Las Vegas in 2013. This spring, he worked just over seven innings and was shortly thereafter sent back to Triple-A. He would, of course, go on to make his memorable debut in mid-May and the rest is, as they say, history.
The 26-year-old right-hander beat out Hamilton, who received the other four first-place votes after tying a rookie-record with 56 stolen bases, and Wong, who broke onto the scene with the Cardinals, eventually playing hero in the postseason for Mike Matheny’s club.