Mets' Jacob deGrom Dealing With Shoulder Tightness, Unlikely To Make Grapefruit League Start On Friday

Mets' Jacob deGrom is dealing with shoulder tightness and is unlikely to make his Grapefruit League start on Friday. Find out what it means for his status for Opening Day.

PORT ST. LUCIE -- Around 20 minutes after the conclusion of his postgame press conference at Clover Park on Thursday night following the Mets' 7-3 exhibition loss to the Nationals, manager Buck Showalter walked back into the media room to deliver some less than stellar news about his ace pitcher.

With just one week to go until Opening Day, Jacob deGrom felt tightness in the back of his right shoulder after playing long toss on Thursday.

DeGrom, who was scheduled to make his final start of spring training on Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals, is now unlikely to pitch tomorrow, per Showalter.

"We'll see how he is in the morning, but he's going to have to be pretty convincing (to start) tomorrow," Showalter said. 

"I'd be surprised if he pitches tomorrow," he added. 

The Mets have preliminary plans in place to take imaging tests on deGrom's shoulder if he is still feeling discomfort when he arrives to the ballpark on Friday morning. 

As far as whether deGrom's status to make his April 7 start on Opening Day is now in jeopardy, Showalter says not so fast. 

"Not yet," Showalter said of deGrom's chances of being available for Opening Day next week. "Let's see what tomorrow brings. That's why we put all of our pitchers on an extra days rest so that if we have something we can move it around."

In what was shaping up to be a rare low-key spring for the Mets up until this point, now brings cause for major concern given the amount of injuries that deGrom dealt with a season ago. 

DeGrom endured a number of different ailments in the first half of 2021, before a sprain/partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow eventually ended the two-time Cy Young Award winner's season following a July 7 start.  

With all of the hopes and dreams that the Mets have for their rotation this season, which features a three-headed monster: deGrom, Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt, health is the biggest key to the team's success this year. And without deGrom, these dreams would be crushed. 

The Mets will be holding their breath until tomorrow morning that their ace is okay, and will be able to make his first regular-season start next week. But for now, there is definitely reason to feel a bit uneasy about the situation based off recent events.