New York Mets: Zach Wheeler joins exclusive pitching club

When a baseball player joins an exclusive statistical group, it’s something to take notice of and leave it to one of the New York Mets pitchers to do just that.

But, it’s not the New York Mets pitcher you think it could be. Not the one that won on the Cy Young. It’s not the one that looks like an Avenger, either.

It’s Zack Wheeler.

But, the number three pitcher just joined a very exclusive club – the 100-100 Club. He’s the first MLB pitcher to join the club in 2019. To be a member of this exclusive group, you must be able to throw a pitch at 100 MPH or higher and to hit a baseball at an exit velocity of the same speed. And, you have to do it in the same game.

Wheeler is the 14th MLB pitcher to join the group. He actually hit a home run in the April 23 game against the Phillies. He went 2-3 with 3 RBI in the game against the NL East rivals. This game put his slash at an extremely impressive .273/.273/.636 in his 11 at-bats. This was his first MLB home run of his career.

He joined fellow Mets pitchers Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard in hitting home runs in 2019. The Mets are truly loaded with pitchers who rake.

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While his batting slash is impressive, it’s his pitching that’s even more so. He finished the game with 105 pitches in seven innings. He held the Phillies to five hits and zero runs. After five games in 2019, his ERA is 4.85 and his WHIP is 1.348. He had a few rough outings to start the season, but not against the Phillies on April 23.

The 100-100 Club is just for pitchers who rake. Ironically, Wheeler also managed to get into the club in his 100th game. He joins his teammate Syndergaard who joined the 100-100 club in 2016 when he hit a pair at Dodger Stadium on May 11, 2016. At the time, he was all of 23 years old and on the squad with Bartolo Colon and Matt Harvey. Thor hit the home runs off of Kenta Maeda and earned all of the Mets RBI that day.

Congratulations on joining this exclusive club, but another big congratulations on joining it with a fellow teammate. It is refreshing to see pitchers who can play in a high-intensity athletic way whether they are on the mound or at the plate.