Jacob deGrom is a back-to-back winner of the NL Cy Young Award. He might have won a third straight Cy Young if there had been a full season in 2020. The right-hander is regarded as the best starting pitcher in the game by many. He is relentless. He is fearless. His command is impeccable. He works the zone from the bottom up. He gets what so many other pitchers don’t.
Any team would be proud to have him at the top of the rotation.
New Mets owner Steve Cohen, who wants to build a championship organization strong from within, is lucky to have deGrom, who was the 272nd pick of the 2010 draft. That’s the ninth round – again, 271 players were picked ahead of deGrom.
The Mets scout who found deGrom at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida and believed in him, remember – Ya Gotta Believe – is named Steve Nichols.
Nichols’ father Chet was a talented left-handed pitcher for the Braves and Red Sox in the 1950s and ‘60s. Steve’s grandfather pitched in the majors in the 20s and 30s. Steve Nichols is a dedicated baseball man.
He possesses third-generation knowledge of the game and is as excited to watch a Division II college scout day as he is to talk about deGrom’s talents.
While deGrom has already won two Cy Young Awards and I believe has another in his future pitching for Steve Cohen’s Mets, Steve Nichols is currently a scout without a job.
Imagine that.
In no way does Nichols want to be considered a poster boy for what has happened to the game and this is not being written for that purpose. He’s an area scout who has done his job well for decades.
With all the talk from organizations about wanting to build from within, you would think one of these teams would have Steve Nichols beating the bushes to find talent. He may never find another Jacob deGrom again, but Nichols will try his best and that’s what this is all about.
Even though he is a great Mets fan, I’m betting Steve Cohen has never heard of Steve Nichols and what he did for the Mets organization and for Mets fans, at least until now, reading BallNine.
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