Mets ace Jacob deGrom expects to be nervous before season debut
Mets' Jacob deGrom walks onto the field with catcher Francisco Álvarez to pitch for triple-A Syracuse against Omaha in Syracuse, N.Y., Wednesday, July 27, 2022. Credit: AP/Scott Schild
MIAMI — All that is left for a healthy-feeling Jacob deGrom to do now is, in his own words, “go out and do my normal thing.”
That will come Tuesday when he faces the Nationals in his first game in nearly 13 months, an injury-induced layoff that was at times painful, boring and productive. But now the wait is just about over. As someone who mentions nervousness as a routine part of his game-day mindset, deGrom expects that last piece of normalcy to arrive in time for first pitch at Nationals Park. “The nerves haven’t really set in yet, but I’m sure Tuesday I’ll be pretty nervous,” he said Sunday afternoon. “It’s going to feel like my debut.”
DeGrom said he still plans to opt out of his contract and become a free agent after the season. The outstanding question in the meantime, of course, is whether he will be able to continue to pitch the rest of the season.
A stress reaction in his right shoulder blade cost him the first four months of this season. That developed only after he arrived at spring training feeling ready to roll after missing the second half of last year because of elbow problems.
He blamed the sudden and abbreviated camp — the result of MLB’s lockout of the players that lasted into March — for the injury.
“The amount of time that it took for me to get back to here, I feel like I’m in a good position to be healthy,” deGrom said. “[The rehab process] was constant contact with these guys [Mets people], tried to stick with the plan and not move too fast. We looked at why we thought it happened, with the quick ramp-up, so played it safe by taking extra days and making sure that everything was where we wanted it. That way there were no setbacks in this process.”
During the downtime, deGrom compared video of his pitch delivery in 2018-19 to 2020-22. He thought an ever-so-slight drift from the norm that helped him win consecutive Cy Young Awards might have contributed to his rash of injuries since.
“[In] ’18 and ’19, I felt like I was at my best mechanically,” he said. “I took a lot of time to look at those videos and try to get back there. I noticed I was a little more upright and leaning a little more toward first base on my follow-through [most recently] than in those years. With this time and able to work on things, I feel like I got my mechanics back to where I want them.”
DeGrom is returning to a team that is really good, which has been the case only rarely in his career. The Mets have led the NL East virtually all season, so this year the games he pitches in down the stretch will be good for more than stat-padding and award-chasing.
“Watching these guys go out there and compete has been fun, but it’s a lot more fun to compete with them,” deGrom said. “In 2015 when we made it to the World Series and fell a little short, that was some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing baseball. So hopefully get back there and win the whole thing this year.”
Extra bases
Starling Marte’s absence from the lineup Sunday was just a day off, manager Buck Showalter said, and he’ll be back Monday . . . Trevor May (stress reaction in his right humerus) pitched for Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday and Sunday, as planned, and is penciled in for an activation Wednesday . . . James McCann homered for Double-A Binghamton on Sunday and is expected back Thursday . . . A fun fact from first-round draft pick Kevin Parada’s video news conference after signing with the Mets: He took a marketing class at Georgia Tech with former Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, who went back to school to finish his degree after retiring.
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.
