Earlier this season, Jacob deGrom complained that his elbow was “barking.”
This sounded like the worst case scenario for the Mets, the fanbase and Jacob himself, who captured the Cy Young Award in 2018 and signed a five-year extension prior to this season.
But here we are in August, and those fears are way behind us, as deGrom has been back to his dominant self and has thrust himself into Cy Young chatter again.
On Saturday night in Kansas City, New York’s ace provided the team with seven strong innings of one run ball, while yielding just three hits and striking out five.
With the win, he improved to 8-7 on the campaign and has a 1.00 ERA in his last seven starts.
“I honestly haven’t thought about it too much,” deGrom said, according to the New York Post. “Of course I would like to be in the talks for it, but the main goal is to put this team in a position to win. We have been playing good baseball since the All-Star break and individual things are great, but the goal is for the team to make it to the World Series and win that, so my goal is to go out there and try to put up zeroes and give these guys a chance.”
In April, it seemed as though his Cy Young season had some ripple effects, as he ended April with almost a 5 ERA, but the right-hander has silenced any naysayers since then.
“There were three in row [in April] that kind of got away from me,” deGrom said. “I really wish I could have those back, but those are in the past so try to get better each time out.”
With the Mets only two games out of a Wild Card spot, deGrom’s dominance will be much needed. He will get a chance to continue his hot streak this week against the rival Atlanta Braves.
