New York Mets: Generation K or Generation Nay?

Was Steven Matz’s impressive debut a sign that the final piece of the new “Generation K” New York Mets has arrived?

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The Mets have been building their way out of the doldrums of the NL East basement.

Leading this rebuild is their young starting pitching.

Sounds familiar?

When was this statement true? If you say 2015 you’re correct.

If you say 1996 you’re also correct.

Flashback to the mid 90s, and we find a lot of similarities to the Mets team then and now.

Most notably their starting pitching.

The Mets had drafted prospect RHP Paul Wilson with the first overall pick in the MLB draft who began the season on their Opening Day roster. Southpaw Bill Pulsipher, who was impressive the previous season started the season on the DL before having Tommy John Surgery. Jason Isringhausen, another promising prospect, started the season on the roster as another one of the promising young pitchers.

The group was given the name “Generation K.” They were all going to be star pitchers. It was going to be a new era of success for the Mets.

Until they played.

The three never amounted to anything remotely close to a star trio. Wilson’s and Pulsipher’s careers were decimated by injuries. Isringhausen, after moving to the bullpen, was the only one that had any type of success. He had 300 saves, and made the all-star team. Unfortunately for the Mets, this success was with other teams.

Fast forward to 2015, and the story is almost identical. A high draft pick (Harvey #7) the ace leading the way, another pitcher on the DL (Wheeler) and a two other stud youngsters in Syndergard and deGrom as part of the rotation, With the call up of lefty Steven Matz, the Mets rotation is loaded with 5 young talented pitchers who all have high ceilings of potential.

With all the similarities the question is if this go-around will be different than the last one?

I believe the answer is a definitive yes.

The Mets have five, not three pitchers are part of their rotation. Percentage wise alone this increases their chances of success.

In addition, this group is different because it has already achieved success. Matt Harvey started an all star game. Jacob deGrom won the ROY award last year.

The threat of injury always looms large over pitchers. Even nowadays when a lot of precaution is taken, many pitchers end up going through Tommy John surgery. With advances in medicine, the chances of recovering fully have increased exponentially from when the surgery was first performed.

Even if a pitcher has the procedure (and the Mets have two) the chances of recovering to their previous skill level are very good.

Naturally, the Mets still need offense. No one can forget that without run support a team won’t have success, no matter how good the pitching is.

Only time will tell how this group will fair. Day one of the Matz era is a reason to believe this time will end better than the last.

Next: Who was the best Met of 2014?

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