Next for Mets ace Jacob deGrom will be start in minor leagues
Jacob deGrom pitches for the Syracuse Mets. Credit: NY Mets/Danny Tripodi / NY Mets
The long-awaited 2022 debut of Jacob deGrom remains on track. The Mets, however, aren’t going to put a date on it just yet.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner was back at Citi Field on Sunday and threw a bullpen session before the Mets faced San Diego.
Manager Buck Showalter said “the plan is for him to make a [minor-league] start somewhere during the coming week and we’ll see where that takes us.”
DeGrom, out all season with a stress reaction in his right shoulder blade, has been on a minor-league rehab assignment and pitched a simulated game last Thursday. That was after a two-day delay because of shoulder soreness. He could make another minor-league start as soon as Tuesday.
“I talked to him a little bit,” Showalter said. “[The session] seemed to go well and see how he feels tomorrow and then make a decision on where he goes and when.”
Showalter added that “he had a good face today — you can tell he’s excited about being close.”
The 34-year-old’s rehab assignment started on July 3, starting a 30-day clock for him to return.
The window is there to conceivably get him two more minor-league starts. The Mets are waiting to see how the next one goes before they make a decision on that.
“We’re really just trying to drive this through his feedback, as well as some of the things we can glean from a clinical exam or some of the objective things we can measure,” general manager Billy Eppler said in a Sunday interview with MLB Radio Network. “We’re really taking his subjective feedback and kind of letting that drive the pace of this.”
“I know what the plan is,” Showalter said. “But if something makes us deviate from that plan, we will . . . I’d rather not put it out there completely until we get to that step.”
Asked if deGrom has felt any of the soreness that caused the delay last week, Showalter responded, “He’s in a good spot.”
DeGrom has regularly exceeded 100 mph during the minor-league games in which he has appeared during this assignment. The soreness last week was the only semblance of a delay.
DeGrom last pitched in a major-league game on July 7, 2021, before elbow and forearm concerns ended his season.
The Mets’ lead on second-place Atlanta had been cut from 10 1⁄2 games to one at first pitch Sunday night, but
Showalter said there is no urgency on his part as far as deGrom is concerned.
“We’ll get there. They’ll tell me when,” he said. “Something I haven’t [done] is really sitting there and looking at the days.
“When they walk in and go ‘Hey, I think Jake’ll be able to pitch in the big leagues on ‘X’ day, I’ll say, ‘OK, I’m in. Thank you.’ When it’s here, it’s here. I’ve got to operate like it’s not going to be here, OK? I’d be stupid if I didn’t.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
