Mets rookie hurler Jacob deGrom has been shut down for the rest of the season, manager Terry Collins told reporters Tuesday. The move is hardly a surprise, with the Mets eliminated from playoff contention and deGrom having thrown a professional career-high 178 2/3 innings this season between the minors and majors.
The thought process from here, of course, turns to postseason hardware for the 26-year-old right-hander. He seems the favorite to win the National League Rookie of the Year honors.
DeGrom is 9-6 with a 2.63 ERA (132 ERA+), 1.13 WHIP and 144 strikeouts in 140 1/3 innings at the big-league level this season. His chief competition in voting will likely be Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton.
Hamilton, 24, is hitting .253/.295/.358 with 25 doubles, eight triples, six homers, 48 RBI, 72 runs and 56 steals along with excellent defensive range in center. The triples, stolen bases and defense are great, but Hamilton is a leadoff man and his on-base percentage is 17 points below the league average. He also leads the majors in getting caught stealing (23 times). He's not finishing strong, either, as he's hitting .107/.206/.143 with only one stolen base in his last 18 games.
Then again, Hamilton has played in 150 games while deGrom has only made 22 starts. Some might argue Hamilton's impacted more games for his team. Of course, he has 605 plate appearances and deGrom has faced 565 batters this season. Is it really that much more impact? Sure, with defensive plays and baserunning figured in, it's definitely more, but what if some of that impact -- namely Hamilton's plate appearances this month -- is negative?
Baseball-reference.com's version of WAR has deGrom ahead 3.0 to 2.2. Fangraphs.com's version shows Hamilton with a 3.4 to 3.1 lead.
It's a fun discussion. No matter what stats one uses, it seems to come down to preference. I think I'd side with deGrom here, but it doesn't feel like there's a wrong answer.
