Jenrry Mejia and the Mets' Young Pitchers

Jenrry Mejia pitched the first game of the Mets' double header with the Nationals yesterday and he pitched absolutely great! He went 7 innings, gave up 7 hits, struck out 7, allowed 0 runs and 0 walks. He hit 95 on the radar gun and had natural cut on his fastball that we saw earlier in his career. He threw all his pitches for strikes, threw his change-up well, his slider well, and his fastball well. With the emergence of Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler, Jenrry Mejia's name was seemingly forgotten. This guy is still only 23 years old, younger than Matt Harvey, and at one point was supposed to be the next great starter for the Mets. Now, 3 years later, I don't see why he still can't be a huge part of our rotation in the future. With the way he pitched yesterday, he should be in the conversation for the Mets' rotation in the future. He really pitched great yesterday! He is going to stay in the rotation for the near future as the Mets plan to go with a 6-man rotation in part to limit the innings of Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler.

Also, Zack Wheeler has progressed nicely through his first several starts with the Mets. To be honest, the Mets brought him up before he was ready. At the time though we were buried in the division race and the mindset was that we should let him get his feet wet so he can have experience going into next season. Of course since then the Mets have the best record in the NL East at 21-15. Zack Wheeler has a lot to learn still, one of the main things being that he needs to pitch to contact. Zack Wheeler is not going to be the strikeout pitcher that Matt Harvey is. Wheeler's best days are going to be the 19 groundout games. The other thing is, us Mets fans have seen what Harvey has done and expected that right away from Wheeler, which was unfair. Matt Harvey is out of this world! When pitchers come up, they struggle usually. They go through growing pains and have to learn on the job. Harvey is one in a million for being this good this early in his career. Look at Justin Verlander early in his career, and Clayton Kershaw in his first season. Neither of them were dominant, but they developed into 2 of the best pitchers in all of baseball. The point is that Wheeler still needs time to develop and learn how to pitch at this level.