JUPITER, Fla. — Jacob deGrom’s season is already on hold.
The ace right-hander is headed to the injured list for an extended stretch, after an MRI exam on Friday revealed a stress reaction on his right scapula. DeGrom, according to general manager Billy Eppler, will discontinue throwing for up to four weeks, after which he will have to build up to pitch.
The diagnosis came less than a week before the Mets are scheduled to open their season, on Thursday in Washington. The vaunted 1-2 punch of deGrom-Max Scherzer will have to wait.
Scherzer, who arrived on a three-year contract worth $130 million in the offseason, is scheduled to throw in a minor league game Saturday, which would align him for the opener in Washington. But manager Buck Showalter declined to announce his pitching plans.
Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco are the other members of the rotation behind Scherzer, and Eppler indicated Tylor Megill, David Peterson and Trevor Williams are the main candidates to fill deGrom’s vacancy.
Jacob deGrom during Mets spring training Corey Sipkin“Everybody has adversity,” Eppler said. “Every team, all the time. You deal with these things. Would we have loved to have Jake out there on Opening Day? Absolutely, but we understand this is what teams go through.”
DeGrom was scratched from his Friday start after feeling tightness in the shoulder while playing catch the previous day. The MRI exam, according to the Mets, revealed the stress reaction on the scapula that has caused inflammation in the area. He will receive further imaging before he resumes throwing.
“He’s disappointed, we’re disappointed, everybody is sharing in the disappointment right now,” Eppler said. “Nobody is immune to that, but I think the good news is here, there is nothing structurally wrong here, as far as the rotator cuff as far as anything like that is concerned. But we are dealing with a bone issue and when you deal with bone, they calcify. The healing characteristics will take care of themselves, so I think that is a positive we walk away with.”
The two-time Cy Young award winner last pitched in a game that counted on July 7 of last year. He spent the second half of the season on the injured list, with forearm/elbow inflammation. In August, team president Sandy Alderson said deGrom had low-grade tear of the ulnar collateral ligament.
In his two starts this exhibition season, deGrom combined to pitch five innings with one run allowed and 10 strikeouts. DeGrom’s fastball had sat mostly in the 97-99 mph range and he focused on throwing more offspeed pitches than normal in spring training.
“It’s another challenge, we knew we were going to have it during the season and it just happens at the front end,” Showalter said. “I’m not lessening it, OK? He’s really good at what he does and we won’t have that for a period of time, but now an opportunity presents itself for somebody to step forward. Somebody is going to get a chance.
“The sky is not falling — it’s just rain.”
Even before missing the second half of last season, deGrom had incurred a turbulent year with ailments. In May, he was scratched from a start and pushed back in the rotation because of a bothersome right lat. One start later he was removed with tightness in his right side and placed on the injured list. In June he was removed early from a start due to shoulder discomfort.
DeGrom has previously indicated he plans to opt out from his contract after the season, but perhaps that sentiment will change given this latest setback. Before the 2019 season began he signed a five-year deal worth $137.5 million that includes the opt-out after the fourth year.
