Jenrry Mejia starts tonight against the Braves. He was pretty great against the Reds on Friday.
Jenrry Mejia is set to make his second start of the season tonight in the Mets’ rubber game in Atlanta. In his first start, he picked up right where he left off at the end of his season last year.
In six innings against the Reds, Mejia gave up just one run and struck out eight. He got an assist from Eric Young Jr., who robbed what would have been a home run, and issued five walks, but he still looked dominant in the process. Despite the walks, Mejia threw 66 strikes on 101 pitches, and perhaps more importantly, he generated 11 swinging strikes, good for a 10.9 percent rate. The only downside to the walks was that they ran up Mejia’s pitch count early in the game.
Via Brooks Baseball, here’s a breakdown of what Mejia threw on Friday night.
| Pitch Type | Velo (Max) | H-Break | V-Break | Count | Whiffs / % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FC (Cutter) | 90.7 (94.0) | -0.11 | 5.76 | 71 | 6 / 8.5% |
| CU (Curveball) | 78.1 (80.4) | 11.76 | -4.38 | 14 | 1 / 7.1% |
| CH (Changeup) | 86.2 (87.4) | -5.93 | 3.78 | 9 | 2 / 22.2% |
| SL (Slider) | 82.7 (84.1) | 4.74 | 0.61 | 7 | 2 / 28.6% |
Mejia fared just fine when he threw his cutter, which he did the majority of the time, but his slider and changeup were particularly harsh on Cincinnati hitters. And this wouldn’t be a rave review of a pitcher’s performance without some GIFs.
Strikeout #1: Roger Bernadina
Strikeout #2: Joey Votto
Strikeout #3: Jay Bruce
Strikeout #4: Ryan Ludwick
Strikeout #5: Ramon Santiago
Strikeout #6: Mike Leake
Strikeout #7: Jay Bruce
Strikeout #8: Mike Leake
