New York Mets: Steven Matz and the importance of consistency

Apr 18, 2018; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets catcher Jose Lobaton (59) talks to New York Mets starting pitcher Steven Matz (32) during the first inning against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Jacob deGrom is consistently great. Noah Syndergaard is great, but not always consistent, just like Marcus Stroman. And after that, the New York Mets have Rick Porcello, Michael Wacha and Steven Matz fighting for two spots in the rotation.

Porcello, Matz and Wacha are veterans with the potential of being solid middle-of-the-rotation starters. Matz was just that last year. That’s why the southpaw should have a spot in the Mets’ staff if we judge by skills and nothing else.

However, since the three hurlers are good, one of them will most likely go to the bullpen. There is no clear indication as to who may be left out.

A sneakily consistent starter for the Mets

We can say that Steven Matz has been, for the most part, pretty consistent, injuries aside. If we take out his ugly 66.2 inning showing in 2017, his performance has somewhat remained stable.

Pitching in the bigs since 2015, Matz posted a 2.27 ERA in that year, 3.40 in 2016, 3.97 in 2018 and 4.21 last season. That 2017 season seems like the outlier, and he didn’t even pitch 70 frames. Remember that he visited the injured list two times that year because of elbow issues.

We can conclude, then, that Matz is a quality pitcher if healthy. He has a high floor and appears to be more consistent than Wacha and offer a bit more upside than Porcello at this point in each hurler’s career, even though the former Red Sox earned a Cy Young in 2016.

Matz has a bit of a homer issue (1.34 HR/9 for his career) but nothing too outrageous. It would be a shame if he lost his rotation spot in 2020.

We can’t make any conclusions as we don’t know the New York Mets’ plans for 2020. For all we know, they may go with a six-man rotation. However, these things tend to sort themselves out one way or another.

Injuries always occur, and a trade is within the realm of possibility. But right now, given the options available and his skill level, Steven Matz doesn’t deserve to lose his place.