The Best New York Mets Pitchers in Team History

At Catchers Home, our main focus is on catchers.

Yet from time to time we like to take a detour and write about other positions on the baseball field. 

One of our favorite positions is pitchers. They form the other half of the battery alongside the catcher, and they work more closely with catchers than any other position. 

For this article, we investigate the careers of New York Mets pitchers to try and identify the best to ever wear the blue and orange.

Our research begins in 1962, which was the Metropolitans' inaugural season in the big leagues.

A Brief Note About Wins Above Replacement (WAR)

The metric known as WAR is well known by now. It's used in baseball circles to quantify the total value that a single player provides to a team. 

There are a whole host of other statistics that focus in on a very specific element of a player's performance.  

Where WAR is different is that it is a comprehensive statistic, meaning that it's designed to capture the complete (e.g., both defensive and offensive) amount of contribution from a player. 

This is the reason that WAR stands out to us as one of the best ways to compare players to one another. 

In this article, we rank all pitchers for the New York Mets based on a player’s highest single-season WAR and highest career WAR using the model developed by Fangraphs (also referred to as fWAR).

Keep scrolling to read about each of these top pitchers…

Top 3 Mets Pitchers by Career WAR

Please note: The player must have a minimum of 50 games pitched as a member of the Mets to be eligible for the career WAR list.

#1. Nolan Ryan, 106.7 career WAR

Nolan Ryan began his four decade MLB career with the Mets in 1966. He remained in New York through 1971 before going to the California Angels and later, to the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers.

Although Ryan’s tenure in New York was not overly impressive, his achievements over the span of his career were remarkable. He won 324 games, maintained a 3.19 ERA (with two ERA titles), and set all-time records for most career strikeouts (5,714), most strikeouts in a season (383 in 1973), and the most no hitters (7).

For some reason Ryan never won a Cy Young award, although he came very close in 1973, 1974 and 1977. He made eight all star teams, was a member of the 1969 World champion Miracle Mets, and in 1999 he was elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. 

#2. Tom Seaver, 92.4 career WAR

Tom Seaver played 20 years in the majors and 12 of those years were spent with the Mets.

Seaver earned three Cy Young awards during his career, and he led the league three times in ERA.

The 1967 NL Rookie of the Year, Tom Terrific won 311 games, collected 3,640 strikeouts and maintained a 2.86 career ERA. 

The 12 time all star and 1969 World Series winner was elected to Cooperstown on his first ballot in 1992.

#3. Pedro Martinez, 84.4 career WAR

Although Pedro Martinez is best known for his time with the Boston Red Sox, he was a Met for four seasons (2005 - 2008).

The Dominican Republic native spent a total of 18 years in the big leagues. In that time, Pedro kept a 2.93 ERA and collected 219 wins along with 3,154 career strikeouts. 

Pedro won three Cy Young awards and one World Series in 2004. He was an eight time all star and led the league in ERA five times.

Honorable Mentions

• Tom Glavine, 66.7 career WAR

• Jerry Koosman, 62.6 career WAR

• Dwight Gooden, 56.7 career WAR

 

Top 3 Seasons by Mets Pitchers, Ranked by WAR

Please note: The player must have at least 20 games pitched in a single season with the Mets in order to be eligible for this single-season WAR list.

#1. 1971 - Tom Seaver (9.1 WAR)

In 1971, Tom Seaver had the best season by any pitcher in Mets history according to WAR. That year, he anchored the pitching staff for Gil Hodges’ Mets and had an MLB leading (and career best) 1.76 ERA.

Seaver collected 20 wins that season with a career high 21 complete games and four shutouts. 

In 286.1 innings pitched, he racked up an NL leading 289 strikeouts. Seaver led all of the majors in 1971 with a 194 ERA+, a 0.946 WHIP and 9.1 strikeouts per 9 innings (SO9). 

Despite his phenomenal year, he fell short of the NL Cy Young vote in 1971 to Fergie Jenkins of the Chicago Cubs. 

#2. 2018 - Jacob deGrom (9.0 WAR)

Jacob deGrom won his first Cy Young award in 2018 after having a dominant season in which he led the MLB with a 1.70 ERA. 

Although deGrom won only 10 games that year, he racked up 269 strikeouts and led the majors in FIP (1.98), adjusted ERA+ (218) and home runs per 9 innings (HR9) with 0.4.

DeGrom was selected to the NL all star team in 2018, and he ended the season fifth in NL MVP voting.

#3. 1985 - Dwight Gooden (8.9 WAR)

A 20 year old Dwight Gooden had the best season of his MLB career in 1985. Coming off of a phenomenal rookie season in 1984, Gooden met (and even surpassed) expectations in 1985, dominating hitters all season long.

Gooden won an MLB best 24 games with just four losses in 1985, and he led the majors with a 1.53 ERA and 268 strikeouts. The ‘85 all star had an NL-best 16 complete games and led the MLB with a 229 ERA+ and a 2.13 FIP. 

Doc easily captured the NL Cy Young award in 1985 and he finished fourth in the MVP vote that season.

List of All Mets Pitchers With a 4.0+ WAR Season

Having a season with a WAR north of 4.0 typically means that a pitcher had a productive year. 

A number of Mets pitchers have exceeded this mark since 1962, the team's first year in the MLB. 

In the below table, we highlight all New York Mets pitchers to have had a 4.0+ WAR season.

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Mets Pitchers over the Last 5 Years

Please note: the pitchers listed below are ordered based on the number of games pitched for the Mets per season. Pitchers who made the most appearances in a season begin at the top of the list. Players appear on this list if they made at least one appearance as a pitcher.

2018 Mets

• Robert Gsellman

• Jerry Blevins

• Seth Lugo

• Paul Sewald

• Jeurys Familia

• Jacob deGrom

• Steven Matz

• Jacob Rhame

• Anthony Swarzak

• Zack Wheeler

• AJ Ramos

• Drew Smith

• Noah Syndergaard

• Tyler Bashlor

• Tim Peterson

• Jason Vargas

• Corey Oswalt

• Hansel Robles

• Daniel Zamora

• Matt Harvey

• Bobby Wahl

• Chris Beck

• Gerson Bautista

• Drew Gagnon

• Chris Flexen

• Buddy Baumann

• P.J. Conlon

• Eric Hanhold

• Scott Copeland

• José Reyes

 

2019 Mets

• Edwin Díaz

• Jeurys Familia

• Seth Lugo

• Robert Gsellman

• Luis Avilán

• Justin Wilson

• Jacob deGrom

• Steven Matz

• Noah Syndergaard

• Zack Wheeler

• Tyler Bashlor

• Jason Vargas

• Drew Gagnon

• Paul Sewald

• Daniel Zamora

• Brad Brach

• Wilmer Font

• Marcus Stroman

• Chris Flexen

• Walker Lockett

• Chris Mazza

• Héctor Santiago

• Stephen Nogosek

• Brooks Pounders

• Tim Peterson

• Jacob Rhame

• Ryan O'Rourke

• Corey Oswalt

• Donnie Hart

 

2020 Mets

• Edwin Díaz

• Jeurys Familia

• Justin Wilson

• Jared Hughes

• Chasen Shreve

• Seth Lugo

• Dellin Betances

• Brad Brach

• Jacob deGrom

• Rick Porcello

• Miguel Castro

• David Peterson

• Steven Matz

• Drew Smith

• Michael Wacha

• Robert Gsellman

• Erasmo Ramirez

• Paul Sewald

• Franklyn Kilome

• Corey Oswalt

• Hunter Strickland

• Walker Lockett

• Todd Frazier

• Luis Guillorme

• Ariel Jurado

 

2021 Mets 

• Miguel Castro

• Trevor May

• Jeurys Familia

• Aaron Loup

• Edwin Díaz

• Seth Lugo

• Marcus Stroman

• Drew Smith

• Taijuan Walker

• Yennsy Díaz

• Jacob Barnes

• Tylor Megill

• Robert Gsellman

• Brad Hand

• Jacob deGrom

• Heath Hembree

• David Peterson

• Rich Hill

• Carlos Carrasco

• Sean Reid-Foley

• Joey Lucchesi

• Trevor Williams

• Anthony Banda

• Jerad Eickhoff

• Tommy Hunter

• Jake Reed

• Geoff Hartlieb

• Corey Oswalt

• Trevor Hildenberger

• Robert Stock

• Noah Syndergaard

• Jordan Yamamoto

• Albert Almora

• Dellin Betances

• Akeem Bostick

• Brandon Drury

• Luis Guillorme

• Stephen Nogosek

• Kevin Pillar

• Thomas Szapucki

• Stephen Tarpley

• Nick Tropeano

 

2022 Mets 

• Adam Ottavino

• Seth Lugo

• Edwin Díaz

• Joely Rodríguez

• Drew Smith

• Chris Bassitt

• Trevor Williams

• Carlos Carrasco

• Taijuan Walker

• David Peterson

• Trevor May

• Chasen Shreve

• Max Scherzer

• Mychal Givens

• Tommy Hunter

• Colin Holderman

• Tylor Megill

• Adonis Medina

• Stephen Nogosek

• Jacob deGrom

• Yoan López

• Sean Reid-Foley

• Jake Reed

• Alex Claudio

• Bryce Montes de Oca

• R.J. Alvarez

• José Butto

• Sam Clay

• Nate Fisher

• Darin Ruf

• Thomas Szapucki

• Rob Zastryzny

 

That’s a Wrap!

We hope you found this article to be interesting.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact us.

Thanks for stopping by Catchers Home.

 

Sources for this Article

• Baseball Reference

• Fangraphs

• Retrosheet 

• The New York Times