The Rockaway Wave
Originally Published June 26, 2026
If you squint, you might think you see Jacob deGrom on the mound for the Brooklyn Cyclones. Who you’re seeing is actually Jose Chirinos, a tall, lanky righty who modeled his delivery after deGrom. Until recently, he even had the long hair to match deGrom’s early days.
“[My] intentions are definitely to be a Jacob deGrom, obviously in [my] own form,” Chirinos said through Cyclones bullpen catcher Joe Tellez, who was acting as an interpreter. “But ever since he left, kind of felt like he left a little part of deGrom in [me]. [I] wish that [I] could meet him.”
The similarities, which have been pointed out in the past by Ernest Dove and others on social media, are striking. When pitching for St. Lucie, he even wore No. 48. Everything is the same. The hands starting up by his face. The delivery itself. The follow-through. It’s Jacob deGrom.
“It’s someone that he related to,” Cyclones pitching coach Luis Alvarado said. “When he got signed by the Mets, deGrom was still with the Mets, and it was someone that he looked up to. And he felt like he looked like him. And at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you look like him or not, you pitch like him or not, if that’s the person you want to model your game by, I have no problem with that. … I always supported the way he looks at deGrom, and the way he wants to shape his pitches that way and pitch the way he pitches.”
Chirinos said he’s looked at other pitchers, naming Félix Hernández and Tyler Glasnow as some of the others, but was drawn to the maturity that deGrom shows when on the mound. It’s something that he said he started doing back in 2020.
“Every time [I] pitch, [I] go to look at video from deGrom and try to mimic a lot of stuff that he did,” Chirinos said.
Maturity is one area where Alvarado, who was Chirinos’ pitching coach for most of last year in Single-A as well, has seen him grow from 2025 into the first half of 2026.
“He’s a very aggressive guy, very passionate about baseball, but he’s been able to channel that energy in a positive way,” Alvarado said. “… Last year, I feel like he had some episodes where he wasn’t able to channel that energy well, and he’ll let that get the best of him. This year, he has done a really good job channeling that energy, channeling those challenges into positive energy, and having better results.”
Over the last two seasons, the results have been deGrom-like as well. Chirinos started his 2025 season in the Florida Complex League but earned a quick promotion and spent the rest of his
year in Single-A. He pitched well, posting a 3.20 ERA at the level, but none of his peripherals really stood out.
In 2026, they have. His strikeout rate has gone from 23.7% to 27.1% this year, and his walk rate has dropped from 11.7% to 7.3%. All in all, that’s a 7.8% improvement in his K-BB%, putting him at 19.8%. It’s the second-best mark among 29 Mets minor league pitchers with at least five starts in 2026, only behind fellow Cyclone Daviel Hurtado.
While he’s with Brooklyn now, Chirinos started his 2026 season back with St. Lucie. It was a bit of a surprise to him.
“[I] was ready from spring training on,” Chirinos said. “[I] thought that [I] was gonna get the call at the beginning of spring training, but that gave [me] some motivation to stay locked in. Look at a lot of videos, bullpen sessions, and everything that [I] needed to do to be ready to compete at the high levels. [I] felt ready even since day one to be at this level.”
He made his first nine appearances for St. Lucie, pitching to a 2.36 ERA, before getting the call to Brooklyn. He’s been a little up and down with the Cyclones in his first four starts, but has kept his ERA under four at the new level. He’s gone at least five full innings in all four starts and hasn’t given up more than four earned runs. He also picked up 10 strikeouts on June 9, his second double-digit strikeout game of the season.
“Once [I] cross that line, [I] try to minimize everything,” Chirinos said. “Just pitch by pitch, batter by batter, and if [I] miss a pitch, [I] just try to lock back in and repeat the process.”
Chirinos’ fastball is a really interesting pitch, as it gets a lot of armside run to the point where they are mostly registered as sinkers by Statcast. However, he said he uses a traditional four- seam grip, and the movement is just natural.
Alvarado said it moves the way it does because of Chirinos’ arm path, which is on the lower side. When he gets a bit on the side of the ball, it gets more armside run.
“I think it’s on the edge of a pitch that you can call a four-seam or a sinker,” Alvarado said. “But at the end of the day, he understands what the pitch is doing, which is the most important thing, and he knows how to utilize the movement at a given time.”
Alvarado said that if Chirinos notices the ball has more run on it than normal one day, he’ll adjust to use it more like a sinker. If it’s more straight, he’ll know he can use it like a four-seam and pitch more up in the zone.
His best pitch, and the pitch he can manipulate the most, is his changeup. Chirinos said it’s always been his favorite pitch since he started throwing it back in 2021, which is before he even signed with the Mets.
“That pitch helps me extend the way I need to all the time,” Chirinos said. “So it helps me with my fastball, my sweeper, any other pitch that I need to throw. But I always go back to it. That’s my bread and butter pitch right there.”
His full arsenal is fastball, changeup, sweeper and cutter. Alvarado has been impressed with the development of all of his pitches, including the cutter, which is the newest.
“We challenged him to get a pitch that moved a little bit to the left with higher velo, rather than just the sweeper, and being able to get in the hands of a lefty, so he developed the cutter,” Alvarado said. “It has been an amazing pitch for him.”
The sweeper has been good as well, forming what is truly a complete four-pitch mix.
“I think the combination of what he has, where he can live east-to-west and north-to-south at times, gives him a really good advantage over the hitters,” Alvarado said.
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