Nabil Crismatt/Photo by Ed Delany

It may surprise you which starting pitcher in the Mets organization is off to the best start this season. It’s not a first round draft pick. It’s not one of the many pitchers who throws in the mid to upper 90s.  In fact, this pitcher has a fastball in the upper 80s, and really he thrives on throwing the ball much slower than that.

Despite the lack of pedrigree or the plus fastball, Crismatt has shown the ability to get batters out because he has a great change-up, and he knows how to locate his pitches.

That ability was on display in Binghamton’s 4-1 victory over the Erie Seawolves on Friday night. In picking up his second win of the season, Crismatt’s final line in that game was 6.0 innings, six hits, one unearned run, one walk, and nine strikeouts.

The nine strikeouts were astounding but not surprising. Actually, this is the second time in three starts Crismatt has struck out nine batters in a game. In total, Crismatt has 21 strikeouts this season in 16.1 innings.  What makes those strikeout numbers all the more incredible is the fact Crismatt has only walked three batters the entire season.

With today’s win, Crismatt is now 2-1 with a 1.10 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and an 11.6 K/9. He was listed as our No. 17 Mets prospect this offseason.

This is now marks the second straight year Crismatt has been a full-time starter, and he’s already had a much better start to the season than he did last year. It will be interesting to see how long Crismatt can perform at this high a level.  It will be more interesting how long it takes before everyone takes notice of a guy who gets batters out because he changes speeds and knows how to pitch.