You can exhale now. Jacob deGrom is slated to make his next scheduled start after leaving Wednesday’s game with a hyperextended right elbow.
“Nothing wrong with him,” Mickey Callaway said. “He’s going to resume playing catch tomorrow and try to make his start on Monday.”
And yes, precaution will be taken.
“We’re really gonna hone in on him and make sure everything is 100 percent,” Callaway said.
The team dodged a bullet as deGrom pitched the fourth inning after his swing and miss in the third. DeGrom told pitching coach Dave Eiland that he was good to go out in the fourth, although Callaway removed him when it turned out he was pitching with some unease.
Baseball can be a cruel game. When Callaway was hired, he brought with him not just pitching insight but a number of techniques to cut down on the epidemic of injuries the Mets faced over the last several seasons which made deGrom’s hyperextended elbow even more frustrating.
The Mets ace, the only pitcher who threw 200 innings for the injury-ridden team last season, hurt himself swinging a bat, not because of some faulty mechanics on the mound. DeGrom has been one of the best pitchers in baseball, with a 3-0 record and a 1.87 ERA, not giving up a run in his last 18.1 innings of work.
The Mets could at least (in theory) count on deGrom and Noah Syndergaard even with question marks in the back of the rotation.
DeGrom is being prepared to pitch on Monday, although Callaway added, “we just have to make sure his mechanics are where they need to be and continuing to maintain his health. Obviously talking to him on a daily basis and making sure that he’s not feeling anything.”
The feeling is one of relief, far more relaxing than last night when a pall was cast over Flushing as Paul Sewald came in from the bullpen.
Mets fans always expecting the worst can breathe again.