Jacob deGrom to have another rehab start, won't face Yankees
Jacob deGrom of the Mets looks on before a game against the Nationals at Citi Field on May 29. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Jacob deGrom isn’t ready to return to the Mets quite yet.
Buck Showalter said the team’s long-injured ace will make one more minor-league rehabilitation start — at least — next week on a day and with an affiliate to be announced. That means he won’t face the Yankees during the Citi Field portion of the Subway Series, which is Tuesday and Wednesday.
Another outing in the more controlled, less important environment of the minors will benefit deGrom physically, the manager said, as well as psychologically.
“It’ll be good for Jake to get that mentally, emotionally behind him,” Showalter said. “He’s doing the things he needs to do to return. The hope is that he makes the start [in the first half of next week] and then we look to slot him in, see how everything goes. If he needs another one after that, we’ll do it.
“We’ve operated quite a while without him. We’re looking forward to operating with him. But when it happens, it happens.”
Was it deGrom who decided he needed more time to rehab?
“It was kind of up in the air anyway as far as how many more [minor-league games] he was going to do,” Showalter said. “It was a conglomeration of everybody talking about it. This was the best way to proceed to get him back and fit well into the team.”
Showalter declined to reveal the details of deGrom’s next game. Out since late spring training because of a stress reaction in his right shoulder blade, deGrom will pitch on Tuesday if he stays on regular rest or Wednesday or Thursday if the Mets give him extra rest. His logical next step in terms of workload would be a not-totally-full-strength five or so innings and approximately 75 pitches.
This makes deGrom’s new best-case scenario a return to the Mets during their next road trip, which will take them to Miami (July 29-31) and Washington (Aug. 1-3). That would give deGrom about two months of regular-season action (plus any playoff appearances) to prove he is healthy before becoming a free agent. He has said on multiple occasions this year that he plans to opt out of his contract after this season.
More than a year removed from his most recent major-league game, deGrom has made four rehab starts — two with Low-A St. Lucie, one with Triple-A Syracuse and one in a simulated game against Mets minor-leaguers on Thursday in Port St. Lucie. He threw 60 pitches in four innings-plus. That outing was pushed back two days because deGrom experienced what the Mets described as muscle soreness in his shoulder last weekend.
“It wasn’t perfect,” Showalter said. “We didn’t have to push it, so we didn’t. When we get him back, we want this to be behind him.”
In the meantime, the Mets will get by the way they have for months, with a rotation led by Max Scherzer.
“It’s not something you can just make happen overnight,” Showalter said of deGrom. “There’s not a blueprint of this is the exact day it’s going to happen. Everybody comes back differently. It’s not like it’s the first time he’s ever pitched. Guys pitch a lot and you gotta listen to them. Listen to the medical people who are experts at this.
“He has a lot of respect for what’s going on here and he wants to be a part of it . . . He knows when he’s right. He knows what it takes to pitch up here. When it’s time, he’ll be here.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
