Jacob deGrom: The 2019 NL Cy Young Award Winner

In the 2019 off season, Jacob deGrom's agent Brodie Van Wagen became the teams General Manager. 

Instead of a long dragged out contract negotiation, the Mets gave him the largest raise any arbitration eligible player ever got. deGrom got a $137.5 million five year, contract extension with an option for 2024.

2019: With excitement starting out the 2019 season, deGrom got his first Opening Day start. On March 28th, he started out where he left off in 2018, pitching six shut out innings, striking out ten Nationals in the Mets 2-0 win. He walked just one allowing five hits. 

On April 3rd in Miami, he pitched seven shut out innings, striking out 14 Marlins while walking one & giving up three little hits. deGrom started out the season at 2-0. 

In that game, he hit his second career HR, it was a solo shot off Trevor Richards to lead off the top of the 3rd inning.

From there on, he had three terrible outings, taking losses in all three games, like a deGrom no one had ever seen before. On April 9th he gave up six runs on eight hits, including three HRs to the Minnesota Twins. 

Next the Braves got him for three runs in five innings, with two more HRs in a 7-3 Met loss. He did strike out nine.

It was feared that he may have injured his elbow on his throwing arm.  

Quotes- Jacob deGrom: "It was just a little sore, I had been sick since Atlanta, kind of had a whole body soreness. For me when I don't throw, it seems things pop up. I wasn't on my normal routine. I was trying to just get enough in to be able to make my starts & I just felt a little soreness in my elbow. I decided to say something."

He felt fine, was checked out fine by doctors, no MRI needed & he was taken off the IL.

But in his next start, the Brewers pounded him for five runs over four innings, as he ended April 2-3 with a 4.85 ERA.

In May, he began by pitching a fine seven innings of shut out ball in Cincinnati to start out the month on Mat 1st. 

But the anemic Mets offense couldn't muster up any offense & he took a no decision in a 1-0 Met loss.

On May 6th, he took another loss as the Padres shut out New York in San Diego 4-0. deGrom fell to a lowly 2-4.

On May 11th he recorded his first victory in over a month, as he beat the Marlins at Citi Field 4-1. He allowed one run on five hits while striking out eight. 

But on May 17th, his next start, the Marlins got him for seven runs & nine hits over just five innings, leading to loss #five. 

On May 22nd he had catcher Tomas Nido behind the plate & it resulted in just two runs allowed over six innings. In games where Nido was catching him his ERA was 0.67 & games where his battery mate was Wilson Ramos, his ERA was 5.33. The Mets won the game 6-1 over the Nats in Citi Field, but deGrom got no decision.

As the Mets went west for a Memorial Day game against the Dodgers in L.A., Nido was back behind the plate. 

deGrom went through five innings leaving with a 3-2 lead against Clayton  Kershaw. But the Mets bullpen blew that & it lead to another Mets loss.

On June 1st the Mets took a 6-5 loss in Arizona, deGrom gave up just one run as he struck out seven, giving up five hits into the 7th inning. 

On June 7th, he suffered a loss, but only gave up two runs in a 5-1 Mets loss to the Rockies at Citi Field. It was his third double digit strike out game, his first in two months as he struck out ten. After another no decision he went on the four game win streak.

On June 18th in Atlanta, he finally got offensive run support as the Mets scored ten runs. deGrom pitched into the 9th inning, as he struck out ten batters again, allowing two runs on five hits with no walks issued for the second straight game. The Mets beat the Braves 10-2 as deGrom went to 4-6.

On June 28th the Braves beat him at Citi Field, as he gave up three runs, the most he had given up in his last seven starts. His record fell to 4-7 on the year.

2019 All Star: But as July started, things began to turn around for him & the Mets. First off he was voted to his third All Star team, representing the Mets along with Pete Alonso & Jeff McNeil in Cleveland. 

As Pete Alonso stole the show winning the HR derby, deGrom did ok himself. He pitched a scoreless 3rd inning for the NL, striking out George Springer & retiring DJ LeMahieu & Mike Trout easily.

 deGrom would win four

straight decisions. In that time, he suffered five no decisions, while never allowing more than two earned runs  in those games. In two of those games he didn't allow an earned run. 

In two other games, he allowed just one run, including an 11 strike out performance against the Chicago White Sox & a season high 13 strike out game  against the Braves. 


On July 14th in South Florida, deGrom beat the Marlins in a 6-2 Mets win. He gave up just one run, it came in the 2nd inning, after that he had a stretch of 17 scoreless innings over the next three games. 

On July 19th, he matched zeroes with the Giants, Tyler Beede in San Francisco. deGrom had his sixth double digit strike out game (10) allowed no runs on three hits, but exited in the 8th inning to a no decision as the Mets took a 1-0 loss on a Pablo Sandoval walk off hit.

On July 25th, he pitched seven shut out innings at Citi Field, he struck out nine, walked just one to earn his sixth win of the year. This was the first win in the Mets seven game win streak. 

After another no decision, he beat the Marlins at Citi Field to get to .500. In that game he struck out eight, walked just one & gave up two runs on five hits in a 6-2 Mets win. The win was the Mets third in another Mets win streak, this one of eight games.

In his next start on August 11th, a 1st inning Pete Alonso bases loaded throwing error, led to three unearned runs, which resulted in a Mets loss. He  pitched five innings as the Mets took a 7-4 loss to the Nationals. 

On August 17th, after the Mets lost four of five, deGrom started another Mets win streak. On this night the Mets were in Kansas City & deGrom pitched seven innings, giving up just a run on three hits, as the Mets went on to a 4-1 win, getting him over the .500 mark. 

On August 23rd, as the Mets donned silly looking, all white uniforms, deGrom struck out 13 batters & hit his second HR of the season. But the Mets suffered a heart breaking 2-1, 14th inning loss to the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field, which started a five game losing streak.

In his next two outings, deGrom was roughed up for four earned runs both times, the first resulted in a loss to the Chicago Cubs & the other a no decision in a Met loss to the Nats.

As September began, the Mets were still in the pennant race & deGrom would win three straight decisions. The ace of the staff stepped up once again, stopping a two game losing streak & getting his team on another win streak. 

On September 9th, he had his ninth double digit strike out game of the year. deGrom allowed one run on three hits, in a 3-1 Mets win over the Diamondbacks. It was the opening win of a big series sweep for the Mets. 

In that game he began a streak of 24 consecutive scoreless innings, as he would not allow another run for the rest of the season. In his last five games he would walk just two batters as well.

On September 14th in Los Angeles he pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight Dodgers but got a no decision. On September 20th, he won his tenth game of the year, beating the Reds in Cincinnati, shutting them out for seven innings, striking out nine. 

The Mets were hanging by a thread in the wild card race, 3 1/2 games out of the second wild card spot with nine games left to play. 

On September 25th, he shut out the Marlins & allowed just two hits while striking out seven in a 10-3 Mets win. deGrom finished the year with his 11th victory & the NL strike out crown.

For his 2019 season, deGrom won his second straight Cy Young Award. He went 11-8 with the NL's second best ERA at 2.43 ERA. 

He led the NL in strike outs (255) walked 44 batters in 204 innings pitched in 32 starts (8th most in the NL). 

His WAR for pitchers was first in the league (7.3) his HRs per 9 innings was third best in the NL (0.776) & his strike out/base on balls was fourth best in the NL (5.796).

At the plate he batted .200 going 13-65 with two HRs two doubles four runs scored & four RBIs. On November 13th he named the NL's Cy Young Award winner for the second straight year.