Jacob deGrom refuses to blame rain delays, sickness or other external factors for his recent nosedive.
Instead, the Mets right-hander continues to harp on mechanics and working with pitching coach Dave Eiland on an adjustment that will let him return to Cy Young form.
“I’m leaving the rubber early and my arm can’t catch up,” deGrom said Saturday before the Mets faced the Brewers at Citi Field. “I’m not whipping through the ball. It’s almost a push, like a shotput. I’m always trying to not do that.”
The challenge is trying to correct the problem.
“The easy part is diagnosing it and then the hard part, even if you are doing it on a regular routine, is to fix it,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “If you don’t get your regular routine in it’s even more difficult. He is still battling it. But he will get it fixed and get it right.”
A night earlier, deGrom had a third straight rough outing, allowing five earned runs over four innings. DeGrom’s ERA surged to 4.85 — the highest it has been in his major league career.
DeGrom was encouraged by his easy first inning, but he loaded the bases in the second before the Brewers sent nine batters to the plate in the third and scored five runs.
To deGrom it’s immaterial that he was pitching for the first time in 12 days — after he was skipped in his previous start because of elbow discomfort following a bout with strep — or that his past three appearances have involved rain delays before the first pitch.
“You feel good and go out and do that, that is what’s frustrating about it,” deGrom said. “But there are a lot of starts left.”
DeGrom is hardly the only Mets starting pitcher in a rut. Noah Syndergaard entered Saturday with a 5.90 ERA and Jason Vargas has been inconsistent in his starts. Zack Wheeler owns a 4.85 ERA, but in his past two starts has rebounded.
“This can be the best rotation in the major leagues if we continue to focus on getting ahead, controlling the count and obviously you need to have your mechanics in order,” Callaway said. “We have to throw strike one.”
