New York Mets Have Baseball’s Best Starting Rotation

The New York Mets reached the World Series this past season, so anything less in the minds of diehard Mets fans will be disappointing for the upcoming 2016 season.

On any championship team pitching is one of the of the most important parts of the team. The New York Mets happen to have hands down the best pitching rotation in baseball.

The New York Mets rotation headed into spring training in just five weeks consists of Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Bartolo Colon, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler.

Of the top five starters who are the hardest throwing in the National League, with a minimum of 140 innings pitched in the big leagues during 2015, the New York Mets have three.

deGrom is the slowest of the three at 95 mph, followed by Harvey who averages 95.9 mph and Syndergaard who has a fastball that averages 97.1 mph.

Steven Matz the No. 4 starter has fewer innings in the major and is the least developed of all the other starters for the Mets, but generally throws a fastball between 94 and 96 miles per hour.

There are many relievers that can throw that hard in today’s game, but few starting pitchers are able to maintain such a high rate of velocity three times through the lineup. The Mets have four of these pitchers who can do just that.

Zack Wheeler was the fifth hardest throwing starter in MLB during 2014 and is expected back during 2016 after he has recovered from his Tommy John surgery.

However, as the starters for the Mets demonstrated during their journey to the Fall Classic last season, their pitching excellence is not just in the way they throw their fastball, but the quality in which they are able to throw their secondary pitches and the ability to command those secondary pitches.

deGrom, Syndergaard followed by Harvey were ranked No. 9, No. 10 and No. 12 respectively in baseball in the ration of strikeout to walk.

This rotation is young and could remain intact for three years or more and seemingly has the chance to go down as one of the best starting rotations of this generation.

Of course, that is a tough thing to live up to, but a World Series title or two would certainty cement the legacy of this starting rotation.

With its strong pitching, the Mets are expected once again to battle for the National League East title and the NL Pennant.