Count Pete Alonso among the presumably countless members of the New York Mets organization who were left dazzled Thursday by ace Jacob deGrom’s second wildly impressive Grapefruit League outing.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner was unhittable in Thursday’s mound appearance, striking out seven of nine batters faced across three perfect innings in the Mets’ 1-0 win over the Houston Astros at the the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“I feel good,” deGrom said, via the New York Daily News. “I tried to stay as smooth as I can, and it just seems to be coming out good.”
Making deGrom’s outstanding appearance that much more impressive — and terrifying to MLB hitters ahead of the 2021 campaign — is how the ace was consistently topping out at 101 mph on the ballpark’s radar gun.
“It just seems to be coming out good,” deGrom said, via the New York Post. “I feel ready to go. I think I have got three more [exhibition starts] and work on continuing to locate that offspeed and establish the fastball.”
DeGrom’s fearsome slider also kept Astros hitters off balance as well, crossing the plate at 94 mph.
“When I was warming up, we noticed I had a good slider, so we said, ‘Let’s mix that in a little more tonight,’ ” deGrom said. “That was kind of the plan going into tonight, mainly be fastball, slider and then as it goes on get a full mix of everything.”
Alonso, who admitted it “got really boring” Thursday playing defense behind deGrom, colorfully explained how dominant the pitcher remains at age 32 and entering his eighth season in the big leagues.
“He’s aging like fine wine,” Alonso said, per MLB.com. “It’s so fun to watch, because every year, he just keeps getting better and better.”
The New York ace, who already appears to be in midseason form and showing no signs of slowing down, said last month it would be “really cool” to finish his career with the Mets. With the star showcasing his flame-throwing ways already in spring training and setting contractural logistics aside, there’s little question that the Mets would love to make things work in that regard.
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