Mets' DeGrom Joins Likes Of Doc, Darryl, Tom Terrific, Wins NL Rookie Of The Year
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Not bad for a kid who wasn't talked about much in spring training.
The Mets' Jacob deGrom completed a fairy tale season on Monday by winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award.
The 26-year-old right-hander became the fifth player in franchise history to win the award and the first since Dwight Gooden in 1984. Tom Seaver (1967), John Matlack (1972) and Darryl Strawberry (1983) round out the exclusive list.
DeGrom easily outdistanced Billy Hamilton of the Cincinnati Reds, garnering 26 of a possible 30 first-place votes. Teammates Travis d'Arnaud and Jeurys Familia each received a pair of third-place votes.
The honor came just a few weeks after deGrom was voted the Sporting News' NL Rookie of the Year by the players.
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The Yankees' Dellin Betances and Masahiro Tanaka finished third and fifth, respectively, in the AL Rookie of the Year voting, well behind unanimous winner Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox.
Despite the fact that the Mets have been touted for their plethora of young starting pitching with potential, deGrom's breakout season was in no way expected. With ace Matt Harvey missing the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, the thought was that the Mets would consider perhaps promoting Noah Syndergaard at some point. However, they ended up giving both Rafael Montero and deGrom a taste instead of Syndergaard, who was thought to be the Mets' best young arm next to Harvey and Zack Wheeler.
DeGrom was promoted to the majors on May 12 and the plan initially was to use him as a reliever, but that idea was quickly put aside when he started three days later in place of injured veteran Dillon Gee and tossed seven innings of one-run ball in a 1-0 loss to the Yankees.
In all, deGrom went 9-6 with a 2.69 ERA in 22 starts for the Mets. The lanky right-hander was also the victim of a lack of run support at times as the Mets hit only .239 as a team, 13th in the NL.
He was named NL Rookie of the Month in both July and September, before being shut down for the season following his win in Atlanta on Sept. 21.
DeGrom pitched at least six innings in 18 of his starts, and allowed more than three earned runs in an outing just three times all season.
The Mets figure to have a formidable starting rotation next season, with deGrom, Harvey and Wheeler, alongside veterans Jon Niese and Bartolo Colon. Gee is a free agent, but if re-signed would only add to the club's front-line depth.
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