New York Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom plans to join Max Scherzer in making a minor league rehab start after coming out of a 27-pitch throwing session unscathed.
A two-time Cy Young winner, deGrom hasn’t started a big-league game since July 7, 2021. He was shut down April 1 with a stress reaction in his right scapula.
deGrom, 33, threw from a mound and faced live hitters on Wednesday, four days after he threw 20 pitches.
“You can tell he’s upbeat about where he is,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said Wednesday, adding that he watched the Port St. Lucie throwing session via video monitor from CitiField. “The body language more than anything. … I wish I’d seen him more up close and personal but he’s where you’d expect from a guy who’s getting closer. He’s enamored with what’s going on right now.”
Showalter said deGrom’s return to the Mets could happen in July. His first rehab start likely would be with Port St. Lucie.
Scherzer (left oblique strain) made a rehab start on Wednesday at Hartford, Conn., his second, and he could be back in the Mets’ rotation as early as next week.
Scherzer has been out since May 18. In his first year with the Mets, the 15-year veteran and three-time Cy Young Award winner is 5-1 with a 2.54 ERA over his first eight starts.
–Field Level Media