By John Fox November 10, 2020
The Mets starting rotation needs to be upgraded and fortified for the 2021 season. The 2020 rotation figured to be a strong point before last season, then the combination of Zack Wheeler departing for free agency, Noah Syndergaard tearing up his elbow, and Marcus Stroman sitting out the season led to serious underperformance in aggregate for the 2020 starters. One pitcher the Mets could target is Trevor Bauer, arguably the gem of free agent pitching class this year.
Bauer was mostly a middle of the rotation pitcher for his first few years in the league, then in 2018 he broke out with a big season in which he finished 6th in the AL Cy Young vote. He might have finished higher had not his season been shortened by a line shot that struck his leg and fractured it. His 2019 was not as good, but that leg injury might have slowed him down some at the start of the year.
His 2020 season was impeccable. Pitching for Cincinnati in the abbreviated schedule, he racked up a 5-4 record in 73 IP. His ERA was 1.73 and his FIP figure was 2.44. HIs WHIP was 0.79, and hitters batted only .159 against him.
Some may say his competition was not the strongest, but his grouping of NL Central and AL Central divisions finished at exactly .500, as did the other groupings since all games were in the groupings all season.
Bauer throws a variety of pitches, including fastballs, sinking fastballs, cutters, sliders, changeups and splitters. According to FanGraphs his average fastball velocity was 93.8 in 2020. That’s not Jacob deGrom fast, but combined with his command and assortment of secondary pitches, he put up a dominant year. He’s a good candidate to win this year’s NL Cy Young, scheduled to be announced on November 11.
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