New York Mets: Pitching is the Key to Success in 2019

The New York Mets are winning games down the stretch of 2018, is pitching the key to their success in 2019?

Assistant General Manager of the New York Mets, John Ricco, recently defended the team’s decision to hold onto their starting pitchers at the trade deadline. In recent comments made to the New York Post, Ricco said that building your team around pitching is a “tried and true method of winning.”

While that is definitely arguable, the Mets’ recent play definitely supports his case. While injuries and underperformance crushed their playoff hopes early on in the season, the Amazins’ have been 40-34 since July 1. A lot of their success can be traced back to their starting pitching.

Jacob deGrom (RHP)

It all starts and ends with the dominance of Jacob deGrom. In 14 starts since the beginning of July, deGrom is 4-5 but has an ERA of 1.68 over his last 101.2 innings pitched.  The dominant righty extended his MLB record of 28 consecutive starts without allowing more than 3 earned runs with his stellar start against Washington on Friday night.

Even though he has been dominant, the Mets only have a record 7-7 in those last 14 appearances. deGrom’s lack of run support has been well reported and it has resulted in the Cy-Young Award front-runner to hold a 9-9 record to go along with his minuscule 1.77 ERA.

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Zack Wheeler (RHP)

Compared to deGrom, the New York Mets have had a much better record in games started by Zack Wheeler. Since July 1, the team has been 11-3 in his starts as Wheeler has pitched to a 10-1 record with a 2.21 ERA.

In my eyes, Wheeler’s emergence is the most important take away from the Mets’ 2018 season. The former top prospect had a slow start to the season but has dominated down the stretch.

Mickey Callaway and Dave Eiland deserve a lot of credit for unearthing this production from the once doubted righty. The Mets made a great decision to hold onto Wheeler as he will be an important piece to the Amazins’ if they truly want to compete in 2019.

Noah Syndergaard (RHP)

Noah Syndergaard has had a weird 2018. Thor has had a few nagging injuries, insert your favorite hand foot and mouth disease joke, and has pitched well, but he has not been particularly dominant.

Syndergaard’s 3.36 ERA is very good, but it is set to be his highest recorded ERA to date. His WHIP (1.27) and Hits per Nine Innings (9) are also slightly up from his career averages. Even with that said, Noah’s starts have resulted in victories during the Amazins’ strong finish.

The Mets are 8-4 in Syndergaard’s last 12 starts as Thor has pitched to a record of 8-3 with a 3.62 ERA. Much like Wheeler, Syndergaard will also be a very important piece to a competitive Mets team.

Steven Matz (LHP)

Steven Matz has rebounded from a disappointing 2017 to pitch to a record of 5-11 with an ERA of 4.03 over 28 starts in 2018. While he has not been stellar since the beginning of July, Steven Matz deserves credit for a solid season. Matz has had a much needed first full season of Major League Baseball. Going into 2018, Matz had never made more than 22 starts in a season.

The lefty has been up and down but has looked more mature on the mound. He will likely be a strong four-five starter for the Amazins’ in 2019. Who knows, maybe he will also win a few games with his bat. Matz has homered in two consecutive starts.

Even with Matz’s struggles, starting pitching is clearly the club’s biggest asset. The New York Mets road their pitching staff to a World Series appearance in 2015, it is reasonable to assume that they could possibly do the same in 2019. This is a hot take, but if everything falls right, it could happen.

“Since we have stabilized things, this model of running a pretty good starter out there every night, with a decent offense, you can win,” Ricco said (New York Post). “We have shown that since the beginning of July.”

As Ricco stated, when the Mets have a pretty good starter on the mound, they are winning games. Since July 1, the Mets have a record of 31-22 in games started by deGrom, Wheeler, Syndergaard or Matz.

Can they carry this into 2019? We will have to wait and see, but there should be some optimism surrounding the Amazins’ as pitching seems to be their key to winning.