Stroman's Excitement at an "All-Time High" Heading into 2021
Mets' right-hander sounds unstoppable in his first media availability of the spring
Marcus Stroman always bets on himself.
Height Doesn’t Measure Heart isn’t just the name of his apparel line; it's a life credo for the Long Island product. The 5’7” right-hander takes enormous pride in working to achieve goals in spite of obstacles and habitually keeps his eye on the prize.
In his first media availability session of spring training, Stroman conveyed that message strongly, expressing confidence in himself and his teammates heading into a 2021 season with high expectations affixed to it.
“I think we’re unbelievable,” Stroman said with regards to the Mets’ current starting rotation and the possibility of more additions to come. “I speak highly of our guys for a reason. I think we’re unbelievable with what we have. I think any team can always make additions. But I love our staff.”
Jacob deGrom, Carlos Carrasco, Stroman, and a combination of Joey Lucchesi, Jordan Yamamoto, Jerad Eickhoff, David Peterson, and possibly Taijuan Walker — who the Mets were engaged in discussions with on Wednesday, per reports — is certainly a strong group.
Coming off a strong finish down the stretch for the Mets in 2019 (2.91 ERA over Stroman’s final six starts of the year; 1.88 ERA, .540 OPS against over his final four), those expectations — internal and external — were just as high heading into last season.
After opting-out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns and dedicating his elongated offseason to honing and finely-tuning his craft (if you watch Stro’s Twitter feed, you know how much work he puts in), the 29-year-old is prepared for battle in 2021.
“My excitement is at an all-time high. I know how calm my mind is. I know where my body is at. I know where my arm is at. I know what I’m gonna do,” he said. “I’m just excited to get back out there and compete and kinda let the world know the pitcher that I am.”
Let’s take a look at the type of pitcher Stroman is.
High spin guy (2000 average RPM on all five of his pitches; 88th percentile in average fastball spin rate in 2019), big on deception, big on command.
Between his sinker, cutter, and slider, Stroman has a deep well to draw from when setting up and sitting down opposing hitters.
His cutter generally lands in the top-right quadrant of the strike zone (catcher’s perspective) and travels on a very similar plane to his sinker (4” of vertical movement above average, per Statcast, which dances on the left side of the plate.
Last January, Stroman discussed his newfound ability to control his cutter at will on Twitter.
This checks out. After having his cutter tattooed over the first half of the 2019 season in Toronto (.355 batting average against, 10% strikeout rate), its effectiveness increased dramatically in New York (.217 BAA, 32% strikeout rate).
Between the trickery being employed by his cutter and sinker, as well as Stroman’s world-class slider (5.4” of horizontal movement above average in 2019; elite), which he drops either on the right-inside paint (catcher’s perspective) or literally down the middle of the plate, he can throw a lot at you.
That slider is just ridiculously impressive. In 2019, it held left-handed hitters to a .198 BAA and .291 slugging percentage against and righties to a .151 BAA and .211 SLGA. Bonafide weapon.
Add in the fact he can put a hitter away with just about any of his offerings (slider, 35.4% strikeout rate; cutter, 25%; changeup, 26.7%; oft-used curve, just to drop it in there, 50%), and batters have no choice but to stay on their toes.
Clearly, Stroman is playing chess, not checkers.
Speaking of his changeup… With James McCann behind the plate as opposed to former Mets backstop Wilson Ramos, Stroman’s propensity to keep his changeup — and the rest of his pitches — low in the zone could result in higher success with the pitch and, perhaps, more usage.
Per Statcast, Ramos was baseball’s worst framing catcher on pitches on the lower portion of the strike zone and below, owning a 32.8% strike rate in 2019 and a 29.6 percent mark in 2020, both league-worst metrics.
McCann finished 51st in MLB with a 44.1% strike rate in the same zone in 2019 and a much-improved 61.8 percent rate in 2020, good for sixth in baseball.
Stroman, scheduled to throw his first bullpen session of the spring on Friday, is eager at the chance to work with McCann.
“Just by talking to him, he’s unbelievably professional,” Stroman said about his new batterymate. “He’s trying to get to know all of us. He wants to know how we work. He wants to know our ins and outs. I can’t wait to work with him.”
It appears the plan is coming together. A beautiful thing, no doubt.