Both the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals made some trade deadline moves in order to shore up their respective rosters for a pennant push. With both squads having achieved that goal as the 2015 World Series lingers on the horizon, it should be noted that the Royals and Mets are playing with a number of players brought up through their organizations.
New York’s entire starting postseason rotation spent time playing in the Mets’ farm system. All but Noah Syndergaard were drafted by the organization, with Syndergaard himself coming over very early in his professional baseball career as a 20-year-old via a 2012 trade with the Toronto Blue Jays, that also netted the Mets their current starting catcher in Travis d’Arnaud.
Of the four teams that competed in the League Championship Series, the Mets have the youngest collective rotation of postseason starters. Jacob deGrom is the veteran at only 27 years of age. The foursome is rounded out by, of course, The Dark Knight Matt Harvey, who will start game one versus KC, and a second rookie, Steven Matz.
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Even impact players in the lineup are not to be forgotten, as they have long been wearing the orange and blue of the Metropolitans. The lumber of Daniel Murphy has not been a thing to trifle with in the 2015 postseason. He’s homered in six straight games headed into the World Series, with seven total round trippers in the playoffs. Murphy was drafted by the New York Mets in the 13th round of the 2006 draft. While he has been a stable and reliable infielder for much of his career, Murphy has never hit more than 14 home runs in any one regular season.
Other starters in the Mets’ lineup that have only called this organization home is first baseman Lucas Duda, third baseman David Wright, shortstop Wilmer Flores and outfielders Michael Conforto and Juan Lagares.
Additionally, closer Jeurys Familia was signed as an international free agent by the Mets back in 2007. Familia was one of the most underrated closers in the game in 2015. He is yet to allow a run across home plate on his watch in October’s playoffs while having simultaneously recorded fives saves.
With the rotation, lineup and closer positions all factored in for the New York Mets, there are 58 years of combined MLB service time. Curtis Granderson and Yoenis Cespedes are the only two players who have appeared in another uniform, equating to 77 percent of those 13 players careers having been stationed in a Mets uniform.
Over in the American League, the Kansas City Royals have a number of position players who grew up and developed with one another in the minors. The starting lineup — excluding designated hitter Kendrys Morales — has a combined 60 years of MLB experience. Five of the eight players have never played anywhere besides in Kansas City.
House That Hank Built
Aside from Yordano Ventura, the rotation has been mostly patched together via trades (Johnny Cueto) and free agency (Edinson Volquez and Chris Young). One thing that Ned Yost and Co. can boast about are the lethal home-grown relievers at the Royals’ disposal. Though Greg Holland might be absent at the moment, he was drafted by Kansas City and was an integral part of their World Series run in 2014.
Kelvin Herrera was signed as an amateur free agent by the Royals. Ryan Madson and Wade Davis can both be considered reclamation projects to certain degrees. Madson’s career seemed over after Tommy John surgery in 2012. Davis, meanwhile, went from being a very medicore starter with the Tampa Bay Rays from 2009-11 to an All-Star worthy bullpen arm for the Royals last season and again in 2015.
The 2015 World Series should be a grand one, with both teams’ strengths set to be the key matchup in this series. In a game that has forever been pitching versus hitting, the Mets will take their fourth best MLB team ERA into the Fall Classic, pitting it against the Royals’ third best team batting average across the league during the regular season.
Both squads feature a lot of players who have never worn another MLB jersey than the ones they will be sporting on Tuesday evening. With that, comes unparalleled chemistry in the locker room and on the ball diamond. It’s no surprise these cast of characters are the only ones still left in uniform this season.