New York Mets’ Marcus Stroman is full of confidence: “I think I’m the best on the field”

Marcus Stroman is oozing confidence. The New York Mets hurler, who is currently slated to be the team’s third starter after Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard, thinks he is the best athlete in the field every time he takes the hill.

“I know that when I’m in a good place there mentally, I know I am pretty much unstoppable, so that is kind of the biggest thing I’m always focusing on,” Stroman said to the New York Post.

“My confidence never wavers, ever. I think I’m the best on the field whenever I am out there always. That is the way I was raised by my father and that is how I’ll continue to be, so confidence stays the same no matter what.”

The best sinker in MLB

He is not afraid to praise himself when he believes it is due. In Thursday’s encounter with the press, he said that he believes he has the best sinker in MLB. Stroman is eager to start the season with the Mets.

“I’m not scared of any moment,” he said. He fears “nobody” and he’s “excited to rock.”

“I could punch guys out more. I also have the best sinker in the league, so I can keep the ball on the ground with the best of them as well,” he said. “It’s just a balance of what I want to do. I think I am going to have the ability to do both this year: Keep the ball on the ground and also raise my strikeouts, which will be pretty hard to do, but as long as I keep the walks down, which is kind of my emphasis, I think I should roll.”

He also notes that core muscle strength is important and his is atop the MLB ranking. “My biggest thing I preach when pitching is core-strength stability, flexibility and mobility, so the bear crawl is kind of the highest level, being able to do that with a wine glass of stability,” Stroman said. “That is something I am always focusing on. … I think I have the best core in the league. I put a lot of work in that, so I am extremely stable.”

Improving with the New York Mets

Stroman is coming off a good season, but he knows he can be better. In 11 starts with the New York Mets after he came from the Toronto Blue Jays, he had a 3.77 ERA, but really started to flourish on the last four.

He just needed to settle in. “I just think any time you are traded, first time for me it’s going to be a whirlwind, so just getting settled, getting in the routine of things just becomes a little off,” Stroman said. “Once I felt I settled in, I felt I was pretty good and I look to kind of carry last year over into this year.”

Now, Stroman will have a full season with the Mets before hitting free agency. He will have enormous motivation to show what he can do. And he most likely will, given his bulldog mentality.