While some baseball fans probably hadn't heard of Jacob deGrom prior to his record-tying performance against the Marlins on Monday, most Fantasy owners were plenty familiar with his work already. That's what happens when a midseason waiver claim goes 8-2 with a 1.93 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings during a 14-start stretch.
But is he really that good? Understand I'm not being literal here. Only a handful of pitchers in baseball history have been that good over a full season. But is deGrom really a strikeout-per-inning, top-30 type with the potential, maybe, to pitch like an ace? I'm starting to believe he is.
I won't spoil it here, but when I took a deeper look at deGrom's last 14 starts -- or really, his season as a whole -- in the Fantasy Baseball Today blog, I liked what I saw. In terms of swinging strike percentage, he's in elite company, and his velocity speaks for itself.
Plus, he throws strikes, keeps the ball in the yard, basically does everything that makes for a successful pitcher even apart from the strikeout rate. I don't think it's a stretch to say he could be next year's Corey Kluber.