The Mets ace is one of the best pitchers in baseball but is he worthy of a first round pick? Sports Illustrated’s fantasy baseball analysts weigh in.

Mets ace Jacob deGrom is coming off his second consecutive Cy Young award and is locked in as a first round pick and the second pitcher coming off boards in fantasy baseball drafts. Sports Illustrated’s fantasy baseball analyst calls deGrom “one of the best pitchers in the game” and expects another great season in 2020. 

Despite deGrom’s dominance from the mound should fantasy baseball players invest a Top 10 pick in the New York pitcher? Childs was joined by Ben Heisler to discuss the Mets All-Star’s Average Draft Position.

Read the transcript from their conversation:

Corey Parson:  Major League Baseball, the sports world is waiting on you. I'm Corey Parson, the fantasy executive here with si.com. Joining me to talk some fantasy baseball is SI's fantasy and gambling analysts Shawn Childs and Ben Heisler. Shawn let me start with you. Jacob deGrom, is he getting close to being one of the top pitchers in baseball? 

Shawn Childs: Over the last two seasons his only issue has been his 21 wins in 64 starts. So that leaves him trailing the best arms in a game. But over this span, he had a 2.05 ERA, 524 K's in 421 innings. His walk rate is exceptional. Strikeout rate has been really, really strong for three years in a row, three straight years with over 200 innings pitched. Even last year he had 23 starts and he only allowed two runs or less in 21 of those games, leading to a 1.89 ERA, 188 strikeouts in 152 innings. Has success against righties, lefties, plus four-seam fastball, slider and change up. He does it all, if he gets the wins and the Mets are a little better in the bullpen this year, he is going to match Gerrit Cole on the front end of the fantasy rotation and he is a very attractive player going in the mid first round in high stakes market. 

Corey Parson: Ben, with an arm like this, you would think the Mets would be a little bit better, but what can Jacob deGrom do for your fantasy team? 

Ben Heisler: Well, right now, as Shawn said, he's the number two pitcher off the board, only Gerrit Cole is ahead of him. And then Max Scherzer who is also in that division has gone off maybe a few picks a little bit later on. DeGrom is one of those guys where he should have higher notoriety because of how remarkable and consistent he's been. And this is why wins don't matter, its a silly stat. I know that it counts in fantasy, but none of it is dependent on him. He hasn't gotten the run support that he's needed over the last several years. He has a chance to win a third Cy Young in a row in 2020. He'll be the first pitcher to do so since Randy Johnson did it from 1999 through 2002. So deGrom is a stud. It's just a question of whether or not the other players around him can help get him a win. But he's an absolute elite pitcher and deserves to be drafted where he's currently going. 

Corey Parson: All right. Thanks a lot, Shawn and Ben, for the latest from the majors. Keep it locked right here, at SI.com. 

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