Jacob deGrom opened up for the first time since his injury in July to MLB.com reporter Anthony DiComo. deGrom shared his feelings on the cause of his injury and the effects it had on him and the team as a whole.
deGrom was shut down in July but no one thought his injury would prevent him from pitching the rest of the season. Frustrations mounted from everybody with the unsure status of his arm and UCL. Was it torn, was it not? Nobody really had an answer.
“You just see how it affects everybody else,” deGrom told DiComo in a telephone interview last week. “It’s like, ‘Man, I should be out there playing. I should be out there taking the ball every fifth day.’ So it’s just frustrating. I was definitely frustrated. It was one of those things that I just couldn’t get rid of it.”
Before his injury deGrom pitched at a level rarely seen since Bob Gibson. He led the majors with a 1.08 ERA over 92 innings.
“I have to take a lot of responsibility for [the Mets] falling short,” deGrom said. “I’m not running out there every fifth day, and I feel like I can help the team win. So going down and not being able to go out there and pitch, it’s definitely a letdown for me. But it’s also a letdown for the team. So I do take a lot of responsibility for that.”
“In this game, the main goal is to stay healthy, and I wasn’t able to do that this year,” deGrom said. “I’ll compete as long as I can. You never know how long you can play this game, [so] enjoy it and go out there and just give it your best while you’re able to. Nobody knows. Maybe I’ll play till I’m 40. Maybe I’ll play ’till I’m 50. Who knows?”