Jacob deGrom, the New York Mets’ ace, has been extremely impressive this season, with a 0.54 ERA that will go down as one of the best in history if he manages to finish the season at a similar pace.
Unfortunately, he had to depart Wednesday night’s start against the Chicago Cubs with right shoulder soreness.
It’s the third time this season that deGrom has to leave a start with an injury.
The first time, it was with right lat tightness, an injury that required a stint on the 10-day injured list.
Last week, the Mets ace was forced to leave his start with elbow soreness, specifically, a flexor injury.
He ended up being fine and was able to make his next start.
On Wednesday night, he out up firing and the elbow wasn’t an issue at all: he fired three scoreless innings, and got eight of the nine outs with strikeouts.
Jacob deGrom exits with right shoulder soreness after three perfect innings and 8 Ks. pic.twitter.com/Cv7GrlXyeH
— MLB (@MLB) June 17, 2021
He will undergo an MRI today to dismiss any structural damage.
deGrom Can Benefit From A Little Time Off
In any case, the Mets should think about the possibility of resting their ace for at least a couple of weeks.
He said, according to SNY:
“I’m pretty confident that this is nothing. We did some tests and kind of ruled out anything serious. Gonna (sic) go from there. The plan’s to get it looked at tomorrow (Thursday), and hopefully check off that box where it’s nothing and just get ready, hopefully [for] my next one. We’ll just see what tomorrow brings.”
The fact that the pitcher himself, a veteran that knows his body and the aches and pains associated with pitching, thinks it won’t be a major issue going forward is certainly promising.
However, the Mets may be risking too much by sending him to the mound to make his next start when he complained about shoulder soreness.
The shoulder is perhaps the single most important body part for pitchers.
Many hurlers successfully return from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery, but shoulder procedures are riskier and the overall effectiveness of pitchers post-surgery is not as high.
deGrom has been through enough injuries and we aren’t even at the halfway point of the season.
At the very least, the Mets should consider a trip to the 10-day injured list, make deGrom rest for a couple of weeks, then start throwing again and return next month.
His body may be sending him a message.
The Mets Need deGrom Now, But They May Be Risking A Lot
In the end, the Mets are currently in first place and should be thinking about having deGrom fully healthy for the playoffs.
It’s understandable that the Mets don’t want to send deGrom to the injured list just to rest and reload for the second half, as they aren’t that far ahead in the National League East and other pitching studs such as Carlos Carrasco and Noah Syndergaard recently suffered setbacks in their respective recoveries.
That means deGrom has dealt with side, back, elbow and shoulder soreness so far this season. https://t.co/VYcEvi0kOa
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) June 17, 2021
But they may need to do it, otherwise they risk a serious injury to their best pitcher and, arguably, best player.
Three different injuries in just a couple of months seem like enough, so the team should send their prized pitcher to the IL and restart his season near the end of the month.
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