Jacob deGrom has absolutely been the best pitcher in baseball so far this season. It feels like he’s making history every night.
The Mets’ pitcher struck out a career-high 15 batters against the Nationals on Friday night. And with that epic performance, he made a bit of history to go along with it.
He has 50 strikeouts through four starts so far which is the most by a player through their first four starts since 1900, per ESPN. He also has three straight games with at least 14 strikeouts, which is the longest streak in the modern era.
But those numbers only just begin to show how dominant he’s been. You have to actually see pitch to understand how good he is right now.
This overlay of a 100 mile per hour fastball and a 93 mile per hour slider (!!!!!) from the Rob Friedman show us just how impossible it is to hit his pitches.
Jacob deGrom, 100mph Fastball (called strike) and 92mph Slider (swinging K), Overlay. pic.twitter.com/Jq6B3o7dON
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 23, 2021
More power to any batter who can actually identify the difference between those pitches before they break and then actually make contact with the ball, let alone get a hit.
This dude is just nuts right now. Here’s another, featuring a fastball, a slider and a 92 mile per hour changeup.
Jacob deGrom, 100mph Fastball, 93mph Slider and 92mph Changeup, Overlay (all swings and misses) pic.twitter.com/KU6QBkAD8w
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 24, 2021
Fam. What are you supposed to do with this? That’s just wild. Masterful pitching from deGrom.
Good luck to the rest of baseball, man. Y’all are going to need it.