New York Mets' Jacob deGrom Dominates in First Rehab Start
It was a bad day to be a Jupiter Hammerhead.
Mets ace Jacob deGrom made his first rehab start on Sunday night for the Single A Port St. Lucie Mets and dominated.
While deGrom's outing was shortened, given this was his first live game action since injuring his shoulder during spring training, the righty struck out five of the six Jupiter Hammerheads he faced across 1 2/3 innings on 24 pitches (goal was 25 pitches maximum). DeGrom hit a batter with a slider in the first inning, which was the only base-runner he allowed.
The 34-year-old's fastball velocity averaged 99 mph, and topped out at 101 mph. His slider averaged 93-94 mph.
Following his outing, deGrom said everything felt really good and that his right shoulder is 100% healed. He has also been working on fixing some mechanical issues that he went back and noticed prior to suffering a stress reaction on his right scapula in spring training.
“We’ve been working on some mechanical things that I noticed were off in spring, and everything was in line tonight,” deGrom said.
“Good step. Looking forward to getting back out there and helping the team win,” he added.
DeGrom is expected to make two to three more rehab starts, before rejoining the Mets rotation. This could put him on track to return after the All-Star break in the mid to late-July range.
The two-time Cy Young winner has not pitched in a regular season game for the Mets since July 7, 2021. But if all goes well, that streak will be snapped later this month.
The Mets’ blueprint of having deGrom and Max Scherzer at the top of their rotation finally looks to be inching towards reality.
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