New York Mets’ ace Jacob deGrom, who has been out since early July and is currently on the 60-day injured list, is finally making some progress after spending weeks throwing from flat ground as he recovers from an elbow injury.
DeGrom has been on the shelf since July 7. At the time, his issue was deemed as right elbow inflammation, but Mets’ president of baseball operations Sandy Alderson recently came clean and explained that he was dealing with a partially torn UCL that resolved itself.
The pitcher himself confirmed the news last week, saying that he feels healthy and ready to ramp up. The Mets badly need his contributions on the MLB, and on Tuesday, he appears to have taken a monumental step forward.
Yesterday, deGrom threw off a mound for the first time since late July. As a reminder, he had started his throwing program that month after landing on the IL on July 7, but a setback forced him to be shut down for a few weeks.
The Mets are hoping his health “cooperatesâ€
The Mets’ official site states the following: “As long as deGrom’s health cooperates, the Mets are committed to getting him back on the mound this season, if for no other reason than to have a baseline for where he’s at heading into the winter. The next week will go a long way toward determining if that will be possible.â€
If he can advance quickly to facing live hitters and go on a short rehab assignment soon, then there may be a path for deGrom to return to the Mets in 2021. And while he still has significant hurdles to clear in order to reach his goal, it’s not out of the question that the best pitcher in MLB returns as a reliever to accelerate his timeline.
The Mets are currently 72-74, four games out of the second Wild Card spot in the National League and 5.5 behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East division.