Twelve starts into his major-league career, opinions on Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom are understandably mixed. His minor-league numbers leave something to be desired, and while his 1.65 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings in his last five starts are certainly impressive, they've come against some of the most strikeout-prone lineups in the big leagues, including the Braves twice and the Marlins twice.
To me, though, that second points only holds so much water. I realize I cited it myself when I wrote about deGrom on July 9, after the fourth of those starts, but the hot streak was less evident at the time, especially since his previous start July 2 at Atlanta didn't even meet the criteria of a quality start. But now, he's had three seven-inning gems in his last five starts, allowing a grand total of one earned run in them. And most encouraging of all, two of those three starts were his second time facing a team, so it's not he's just catching teams by surprise.
Minor-league numbers matter up to a point because, at least for an unheralded prospect like deGrom, they're the most unbiased information available to us for the first year or so of his career, but the list of players to outperform their minor-league numbers during their careers is, of course, innumerable.
I'm not saying deGrom is must-add or anything, but five starts into this hot streak, I'm willing to take flier, especially given the lack of alternatives I'm finding on waivers this time of year. (Tom Koehler? John Danks? Shelby Miller? No thank you.)