Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports
Jacob deGrom and the Mets are erring on the side of caution when it comes to his minor lat injury, as they want to make sure a return to the mound won’t further injure and sideline the ace.
DeGrom was scratched from his start on Tuesday with right lat soreness. Soreness in the area is normal according to deGrom, but his condition was not improving the way he would have liked leading up to his scheduled start.
The current plan is to see doctors again tomorrow and play catch if everything goes well. If tests continue to improve then they’ll try to throw a bullpen on Friday. His next start is not scheduled right now.
“I’m feeling good right now,” deGrom said.
DeGrom, who knows his body better than most athletes, believes his injury is a result of poor mechanics.
“My lats definitely been sore before but when it’s not trending in the right direction leading up to the start that’s when I thought I should say something,” deGrom said.
“Normally my lats get sore when I pitch. That means I’m getting good extension. But from looking at my mechanics and stuff I could tell that it was from flying underneath the baseball for 90 something times.”
The Mets have moved deGrom’s starts multiple times this season. It took him longer to recover from Colorado but he felt like everything was fine upon his return against the Nationals. He even felt “really good” against Boston. The plan was to stay on every five days but he noticed that due to poor mechanics, which he was unable to adjust to in-game, his body was not recovering the way he would like.
Recommendations for deGrom are to keep his shoulder moving. He’s working with the training staff on his modality. The goal is to get everything on line and not force deGrom to stare down a pitch count during his next outing.
It’s the second time this past week the Mets are being cautious with their pitchers. Against Philadelphia, Marcus Stroman departed with hamstring tightness. It was the correct move as Stroman is starting today and was ready to take the mound last night before the game was postponed due to weather.
Still, the health of New York’s pitching staff is improving. The Mets are getting closer to the debut of Carlos Carrasco and Noah Syndergaard. Each has ramped up activities the last few days with Carrasco on track to return this month.
