NEW YORK — Perhaps the Mets can rename their MRI scanner the “Jacob deGrom Tube.”
The Mets ace on Monday had his third MRI in six weeks, with the latest image revealing “continued healing in the scapula,” according to a statement from the team.
What does that mean for the two-time Cy Young award winner? DeGrom, who started throwing off flat ground about a week ago, has now received permission to take another step back and throw harder. For now, deGrom will build up his distance and velocity, with the next step being getting back on the mound.
“Looked pretty clean,” GM Billy Eppler said of deGrom’s latest MRI results. “Just like everything, things continue to calcify after they’ve had a reaction or trauma to them. But it looked really good under the picture. We had it looked at by a number of doctors.”
It’s possible deGrom will require another MRI as he progresses through the throwing program that the Mets have built for him. Eppler said he will rely on the many doctors the team is conferring about the possibility of another set of tests for the pitcher.
The Mets are refraining from publicizing their timeline for deGrom, focusing instead on the accumulation of good news they have so far received.
DeGrom, 33, has not pitched in a major league game since July 7, 2021. As of Tuesday, the Mets were not sure whether it will be a full year, or more, since the right-hander will have taken the mound for them. In a best-case scenario, deGrom can return to the Mets by mid/late June. But the speed at which deGrom is moving through his rehab indicates the team is being cautious as ever with their ace, and depending on how his scapula reacts to the additional workload, it’s possible deGrom will require a more gradual ramp-up and thus further delay his return to the rotation.
For an idea on whether deGrom is currently where he would be at the start of a typical spring training, the fact that he’s not yet throwing off the mound indicates that he’s still behind that marker. It will continue to take time — plus rehab outings, eventually — for deGrom to ramp back up after being shut down for so long. He will continue his rehab in Florida, with no real indication from the Mets on when deGrom will at least rejoin his teammates and start traveling with the team.
“Most guys when they start spring training, I mean everybody is a little different, but most people have jumped on a mound by the time they’ve gotten to spring training,” Eppler said.
Both Eppler and manager Buck Showalter spoke to deGrom on Monday. Showalter happened to be walking into the team’s training room when some trainers were already FaceTiming with deGrom. Showalter jumped on the call and caught up with his sidelined ace.
The past year has included a series of injuries for deGrom, the most severe being a partial tear of his UCL last summer. After going 7-2 and recording a 1.08 ERA in his first 15 starts in the 2021 season, deGrom was forced to miss the entire second half of the year with that elbow injury. When he returned to spring training this past March, deGrom was physically stronger and in excellent spirits. He impressed in a pair of exhibition games before feeling discomfort in his right shoulder. An MRI on April 1 revealed the stress reaction on his scapula that would cause him to miss the start of the 2022 season.
“You can tell he’s really looking forward to getting back,” Showalter said. “It was a curve that was thrown to us early and we’re just going forward with it. I think if he had been here for the first month or two of the season and then went down, we would’ve looked at it a little bit differently. It’s just something we had to deal with, but it’s exciting that he’s making progress to be back with us. I know Jake’s looking real forward to joining the team and being around the team again.”
Added longtime teammate Brandon Nimmo of his recent talks with deGrom: “Our conversations don’t really revolve around baseball. He’ll send me like, a video of a coyote or something. I know he’ll be back when he’s ready. He’s chomping at the bit for it.”
