NEW YORK – A week ago when the New York Mets' organization called upon Rafael Montero to pitch against the New York Yankees and move Jenrry Mejia to the bullpen, it looked as if Montero would be the guy to replace him.
A 23 year old rookie from the Dominican Republic, Montero, is one of the outstanding pitching prospects the Mets are excited to see in the future. Montero looked brilliant against Yankees in his major league debut giving up only three earned runs on five hits and striking out three in 6.0 innings of work. Unfortunately, Montero was cursed with opposing Yankees' Japanese phenom, Mashiro Tanaka, who pitched his first major league complete game shut-out that night against the Mets.
Montero took his next turn in the rotation on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers where he once again faced another teams ace – Josh Beckett. Montero struggled from the beginning, walking Dodger hitters and finding himself in trouble early on. He found a way to wiggle himself through trouble and only allowed one run through the first 4 innings but a walk to Yasiel Puig in the 5th inning led to an Adrian Gonzalez two-run home run that broke the tie and started a land slide for Montero. He was charged for five Dodger runs (four of them coming in the 5th inning) on seven hits, striking out four, and walking four through 4.1 innings.
Rafael Montero has looked both brilliant and like a 23 year old rookie in his performances at the major league level. He has excellent movement on his fastball that gets hitters into grounding out to his teammates behind him. He has shown fantastic composure early in games when being forced to get guys out with the least damage possible.
Montero, though, has mightily struggled with his pitch selection. He relies on his fastball much more then he should and is reluctant to throw it inside to hitters. His changeup has little movement right now and he can't seem to find the strike-zone with it. Early in games, throwing your fastball and slider low and outside to get guys out can work out. But once the major league hitters have faced you two or three times in a game already, they will sit on that outside fastball and hurt you. This has been evident in both Montero's starts as he has given up all his earned runs in the 4th, 5th, and 6th inning.
Jacob deGrom was called up to the New York Mets a day before Montero and he was designated only to long relief pitching out of the bullpen. Like the start of so many other great sports stories, an injury propelled deGrom to the starting rotation. Jacob was a starting pitcher in Triple-A Las Vegas where he was 4-0 with 2.58 ERA before being called to the majors. A 25 year old rookie who many didn't see as one of the “Super Talent” pitchers the Mets have coming through their organization, deGrom has exceeded all expectations up to this point.
Just like Montero, deGrom got his first major league start during the Subway Series against the Yankees. He pitched an outstanding 7.0 innings only giving up one earned run on four hits while striking out six Yankee hitters. The Mets' were unable to muster up any offensive spark for deGrom as they lost the game 1-0 that night.
Jacob deGrom then took the mound Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers and delivered yet another quality start. deGrom went 6.0 innings striking out four but a home run in 3rd to Adrian Gonzalez and then two more in the 6th to Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez stung him for three earned runs and another tough loss.
Despite his 0-2 record, deGrom has posted a 2.77 ERA and has only walked five hitters in his two starts. He has shown great command to spot his fastball on the outside corner to left-handed batters and a hard breaking slider that right-handed hitters have had a tough time laying off. That low fastball has proven to be a go-to pitch of his when he needs a ground ball out in a jam.
Jacob struggles where many young pitchers do. He doesn't have that over powering “out” pitch that will get batters out continuously when he is ahead in the count. Two of three hitters deGrom surrendered home runs to Wednesday night had two strikes on them. A high fastball to Adrian Gonzalez and a hanging slider to Hanley Ramirez both got hit a long ways.
Both Rafael Montero and Jacob deGrom haven't had the best of luck in receiving run support as the Mets' offense has been in a biblical slump the past few weeks. With a few starts left apiece, Montero and deGrom each know what is up for grabs and what they have to do to solidify a spot in the starting rotation.
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