Throughout the first week and a half of the 2022 MLB season the New York Mets have been off to a blazing hot start. Although it has only been 10 games at the point of this article being written they are tied with the San Francisco Giants for the most wins in Major League baseball at seven. It will be interesting to see the upcoming series between the two teams and who will come out with the series win. However, the hot start by the New York Mets can be attributed heavily to the starting pitching performances so far. The New York Mets going into the Monday series opener against the Giants have a starting rotation ERA of 1.07 which is the best ten-game start to an MLB season since the ERA statistic was established in the year 1913. The Mets have had this historic pitching start to the season without their ace in Jacob DeGrom who has been sidelined with a stress reaction in his right scapula. This injury will most likely keep DeGrom out of the Mets starting rotation until June. David Peterson, who is one of the Mets current starting pitchers was quoted saying, “Obviously, we’d love to have Jake in the rotation and he’s one of the best in the game. But like I said, it’s a next man up.” So far it truly has been a next man up situation as the starting pitchers have seemly tried to out preform the man before them throughout the first ten starts of the young MLB season.
Headlining the Mets rotation so far this year is second year player Tylor Megill who has been lights out in his first two starts of the season. In those two starts Megill has pitched a combined 10 and 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run to go along with 11 K’s. Prior to the start of the season Tylor Megill was not even supposed to be in the starting rotation but with the injury to two-time Cy Young award winner Jacob DeGrom a spot has opened up. Megill has taken full advantage of the opportunity that has been presented to him and has looked like the best starting pitcher in MLB so far. With an uptick in velocity where we have seen Megill sitting in the upper 90’s on his fastball and even touching 99MPH on occasion, it has been very fun to watch him on the bump.
The number two slot in the Mets rotation is none other than three-time Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer. Scherzer was acquired by the Mets in free agency in which he received a record breaking 3-year, $130 million dollar deal with an AAV of $43.3 million per year. So far this season Scherzer surprisingly has the highest ERA of the Mets rotation with a 3.27 ERA but still has 2 wins in 2 starts with 13 strikeouts so far. The oldest member of the rotation will be a good mentor for the younger guys and so far, this season has been seen talking and giving advice to guys such as Megill and Peterson. It seems that the starting pitchers have formed a fraternity between themselves and have been often spotted talking and giving advice to each other even on their off days to help get the most out of each other. Scherzer will be a vital part in the success of the Mets season and will contend for a fourth Cy Young award as he does every year.
The third member of the Mets rotation is the newly acquired Chris Bassitt who has shined with a 0.75 ERA and two wins in two starts. Bassitt was acquired this offseason via a trade with the Oakland Athletics in which the Mets sent JT Ginn and Adam Oller in return for Bassitt. If you do not follow baseball closely or are not an Athletics fan you have most likely never heard of him. However, he has been one of the better pitchers in baseball throughout the last three years. Since the beginning of 2019, Bassitt has a record of 29-11 and has not recorded an ERA higher than 3.81 during that time span. Bassitt slots into the Mets starting rotation as one of the best third options in the league this year and has performed very well thus far.
The current fourth member of the Mets starting rotation is Carlos Carrasco who was acquired in the trade that also included Francisco Lindor prior to the 2021 season. Carrasco was injured for the majority of the 2021 season and did not pitch well in the short span that he was a part of the team’s starting rotation as he had a 1-5 record and a 6.04 ERA. However, going into the 2022 season he has been healthy and has had two stellar outings for the Metropolitans. Although he has gotten two no decisions, he has only allowed one run through his first two starts which came in the first inning of his 2022 campaign. Carrasco is looking to have a bounce back season and has gotten off to a hot start with a 0.84 ERA.
Taijuan Walker was the fifth member of the Mets rotation to begin the year before finding himself on the IL with right shoulder bursitis after his first start. However, David Peterson has been put in the fifth spot during Walker’s absence and has performed well so far with a 0.00 ERA in 8 and 1/3 innings. The former Mets first round draft pick had high expectations from the start and has not really lived up to the hype coming out of college to this point. However, with a hot start to the 2022 season and some momentum I think we will see a big step forward for Peterson this year and if he performs well enough in his current role might find a permanent spot in the rotation. In his two appearances thus far, his slider has seemed much improved with more depth which pairs very well with his low to mid 90’s fastball.
Although the Mets pitching staff has come out of the gates to a historic start it is hard to imagine that they will keep the current pace up as the season goes on. However, it is very promising to see the performances that this staff has given us so far. With reinforcements on the way throughout the season such as Jacob DeGrom and sooner than later having Taijuan Walker back in the mix, the Mets plan on having one of the best rotations in MLB this season and it will be fun to see as the season goes on.
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