Before Tammy deGrom’s youngest child and only son, Jacob, was married over the weekend, she imparted a few bits of advice. She told him to always keep his faith first. She told him to continue doing what he was doing in his profession.
And she told him, “You’re still my little boy.”
Well, not that little. Jacob deGrom’s career took off this year, as he went from minor league prospect to the Mets’ best pitcher, an emerging, and intriguing, star with long hair down to his shoulders. The little boy who once rode horses and four-wheelers on his family’s large plot of land in DeLeon Springs, Fla., was now blowing fastballs by surprised hitters.
His ascent continued Monday when deGrom, 26, was named the National League rookie of the year, receiving 26 of 30 first-place votes. No Met had won the award in 30 years, and only four had ever done it: Tom Seaver, Jon Matlack, Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden. And to think that deGrom started pitching in serious competition only four years ago, when he was a junior at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla.
DeGrom by the Numbers
He had been a shortstop until his coaches tried him as a closer and realized he was the best pitcher on the team. He made 12 starts that year, just enough to convince the Mets to take him in the ninth round of the 2010 draft.
He then made six starts that season in rookie ball before his elbow gave out. He had Tommy John surgery, missed the entire 2011 season, and then pitched well in 2012 as he began climbing the minor league ladder. But just before spring training in 2013, he broke the ring finger on his nonpitching hand while helping to castrate a calf.
Feeling depressed, he approached Frank Viola, a onetime major league pitching star and current minor league coach who had already tutored deGrom.
“Am I ever going to make it to the big leagues?” deGrom asked him.
Viola had already found deGrom to be more mature, more thoughtful, than some of the other younger pitchers he worked with who were trying to make it to the Mets. Viola found that with deGrom all he needed to do was answer his questions; deGrom would figure the rest out for himself.
Now Viola looked at deGrom and said: “In 2014, you’re going to leave me two tickets to a big-league game.”
“No way,” deGrom responded.
“You watch,” Viola said.
“As a coach you can see it, you can feel it, you know a kid’s makeup puts him at another level compared to other players,” Viola said in a phone interview Sunday. He added, “You knew that from his inner workings and the poise and everything that came with it, you knew it was a matter of time until it clicked and he took off.”
DeGrom started this season at Class AAA Las Vegas. But by May, he got the word he was being called up and he went right into the rotation when Dillon Gee went on the disabled list.
His whole family was on hand to watch his first start — a gem against the Yankees in which he allowed just one run over seven innings.
He was quickly perceived to be fearless for a rookie, and he was a good hitter, to boot, all those games at shortstop paying off. And while there were some bumpy moments on the mound in May and June, he was quickly finding a groove.
He went about two months without allowing a home run. He was twice named the National League rookie of the month. He carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the San Francisco Giants, the eventual World Series winners. He tied a modern-day record by striking out eight consecutive Miami Marlins to start a game in September. Mr. Met wore a wig in his honor.
Viola teased him: You still owe me those tickets.
DeGrom’s season ended prematurely when he reached his innings limit for 2014. But over 22 starts with the Mets, he compiled a 9-6 record and a 2.69 earned run average, with 144 strikeouts. And he never seemed to lose his cool, a trait that Tammy deGrom said her son got from his father, Tony.
“I guess it’s an inner strength,” she said.
On Monday, after the award was announced, deGrom, appearing on the MLB Network, said, “I’m just looking forward to trying to help us win a World Series.” He added that he hoped to “be a part of this staff for a long time.”
As for his wedding, to his longtime girlfriend, Stacey Harris, it took place under a canopy of oak trees in Florida on Saturday. The dance floor was in a rustic barn.
“He’s a country boy,” Viola said. “I don’t see him changing at all.”