Despite the news that his latest MRI showed significant improvement on a recent elbow inflammation diagnosis, New York Mets’ ace Jacob deGrom is not particularly close to making a return to action.
The Mets are currently streaking, winning their last six games and cutting their deficit in the division to just four games. They also got back to .500 on Friday night, taking their record to 67-67.
Yet, they are unlikely to have their ace back for at least a couple more weeks, if not more. Per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, when asked Friday where he was at in his road back from right elbow inflammation, the pitcher replied: “I’m in Washington.â€
Playful geographical jokes aside (the Mets are currently playing a weekend series in the nation’s capital), there is just not too much certainty about the star’s timeline to return to a major league mound.
The Mets’ star pitcher is improving, but is running out of time
DiComo did explain that a Mets official said that deGrom, despite feeling better, “is likely about 10 days away from advancing to bullpen sessions. He has been throwing off flat ground from 75 feet and must extend that to 120 before making it to the slope of a mound. That process should take deGrom into the third week of September; from there, he must throw multiple bullpen sessions and face live batters before he can even consider appearing in a game for the first time since July 7.â€
In other words, the Mets are running out of time to get their star pitcher back. At this point, any realistic scenario of him coming back before the last week of the season is hard to imagine.
The Mets official, therefore, doesn’t expect to see deGrom for anything more than an outing or two near the end of the season. And if he experiences any kind of setback, the team will likely just shut him down, especially if they are out of the hunt by then.