Photo: Ed Delany, Metsmerized Online
Jacob deGrom has started throwing from 60 feet on flat ground with “light intensity,” according to general manager Billy Eppler. This is the first throwing the Mets’ ace has done since the end of March, when it was revealed deGrom was suffering from a stress reaction in his scapula.
DeGrom was initially shut down on April 1, and the team said he wouldn’t throw for at least four weeks. Once follow-up imaging was done, the team reported deGrom’s stress reaction was healing well, but they’d want to do more follow-up imaging in three weeks’ time–right around mid-May.
Eppler said that deGrom will have that follow-up imaging in about a week. If the injury proves to be fully healed, deGrom will ramp up activity after that and the team will have a clearer timeline on when they may be able to have their ace back on the mound.
The 33-year-old hasn’t pitched in an MLB game since July 7, 2021. When he has pitched, he’s been the best pitcher in baseball, but ailments–from his forearm to his shoulder to his oblique–have derailed parts of his 2021 and now 2022 seasons. It may be close to a full calendar year before we see deGrom in a game again. But once he does, he’ll join a Mets starting rotation that has a 3.05 ERA–fourth-best in the majors.
DeGrom was placed on the 60-day injured list earlier Tuesday after the team claimed lefty reliever Locke St. John. They needed to make room on the 40-man roster, and the move was all but a formality as deGrom wasn’t expected to return before June 6, which is when he’d be able to come off the 60-day IL.
