The New York Mets would love to give rookie starting pitcher Jacob deGrom one more chance to boost his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2014. Then again, they would probably love to have him healthy long-term even more than seeing him win an individual accolade.
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Debatable though the merits of inning limits can be, the Mets will impose one on deGrom. Adam Rubin of ESPN New York reports that the Mets will skip deGrom’s final scheduled start this week because of the number of innings he has thrown this season.
"The club will impose an innings cap on the 26-year-old right-hander.DeGrom had been lined up to face the Houston Astros on Saturday at Citi Field. He has logged 140 1/3 innings in the majors this season, and 178 2/3 innings overall when his Triple-A work is included. That’s already a jump of 31 innings from his 2013 total."
As for that Rookie of the Year race in the National League, one that will likely come down to deGrom and Reds’ center fielder Billy Hamilton, manager Terry Collins said the following:
"“We explained the big picture,” Collins said. “… One more start isn’t going to vary any votes. One more start isn’t going to show everybody that he belongs here. One more start could lead to some trouble. The big picture was to make sure when this season was over that those five [rotation] guys were going to be healthy. We think we’ve reached that point.”"
deGrom is 9-6 with a 2.63 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and a 9.2 K/9 mark in 22 starts this season. Hamilton is batting .253/.295/.358 with 56 stolen bases. Even with the stolen bases, that race looks like it sways clearly in deGrom’s favor.
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