Who is the Mets Ace?

Under Sandy Alderson, the Mets constructed the best starting rotation in baseball. Mets fans can boast proudly about their rotation, comprised of four if not five bonafide aces. But there has to be an ace of aces. Between Harvey, Syndergaard, deGrom, Matz, and Wheeler, who is the Mets ace? No disrespect to Matz and Wheeler, but both are still too inexperienced to be an ace. That being said, the conversation for whom the ace amongst our young flamethrowers is boils down to Harvey, deGrom, and Syndergaard.

I’ve left Syndergaard in consideration for this long, because after all is said and done, I believe he’ll come out of this crop of Mets starters as the most dominant of them all. Still, like Matz and Wheeler, Syndergaard is only a rookie, leaving the final decision to be made between Harvey and deGrom. At first thought, most Mets fans would be quick to say Harvey has been the team’s ace since he came up in late 2012. However, I believe a strong case can be made why Jacob deGrom is the Mets ace. I love Matt Harvey. Matt Harvey on his best day when he’s on the mound, nose bloodied, and with the swagger of a 90s WWF wrestler is unlike anything I’ve seen on the diamond.

The problem is that this side is sometimes overcast by his shenanigans. When innings limit gave Mets fans a collective shot to the stomach once the playoff picture took form, who took the ball in our first playoff game since 2006? Jacob deGrom. Who struck out 13 Dodgers over seven innings and defeated their undisputed ace? Jacob deGrom. If it boils down to their personalities; intangible characteristics that define who they are within the dynamic of their team, do you go with Matt Harvey’s rockstar persona that makes him the quintessential New York athlete. Or do you go with calm, cool, and collected Jake deGrom, whose mastering of the art of pitching allows him to carve apart hitters? If it boils down to purely statistics, the numbers are fairly easy to weigh against each other. Both deGrom and Harvey have essentially two complete seasons in the majors.

The major difference between these two are their innings pitched. Harvey’s edge can be chalked up to his mid-season call up in 2012, when hitter’s unfamiliarity with him and his undeniably fiery stuff allowed him to torch hitters. Posting almost 100 more innings than deGrom, Harvey also obviously has the edge in strikeouts. deGrom comes away with the clear victory here, however, posting 23 wins to Harvey’s 25 though Harvey has over ten games in hand. Wins are the most important thing for an ace. The merit of wins in terms of deciding a pitcher’s talent is up for debate, but this debate isn’t to decide who’s better. The ace of a pitching staff is it’s anchor. When Jacob deGrom takes the mound every fifth day, his teammates know they’ll have a chance to win. If his 97+ velocity isn’t there and his command issues rears its head, he’ll be up to the task of grinding out hitters and weathering the storm. With top 10 big league hair, the calmness of a monk and the mound presence of a ten year vet, Jacob deGrom is the Mets ace.