Jacob deGrom wouldn't have made his start on Tuesday anyway after the Mets were rained out, but he was a major source of concern after being scratched from his start due to tightness in his right side.
deGrom, off to a scintillating start and already being mentioned in early MVP talks, is an unaffordable loss for the Mets, but fortunately, it appears his lat soreness is mild enough to only miss one start, and deGrom said he is already feeling better.
"I'm feeling good now," deGrom told reporters on Wednesday. "The plan is to see the doctor tomorrow and let him reevaluate, and the plan is to play catch tomorrow if everything goes well."
deGrom initially felt the soreness after his normal bullpen session, and it didn't feel any better when he woke up on the morning of his start, prompting him to lets the Mets staff know about it.
"First day here I woke up and noticed my lat was pretty sore, so I told them then and said 'hey, we'll see how it is tomorrow, just wanted to give you a heads up,'" deGrom said. "I woke up yesterday and didn't notice much of an improvement…I felt like I would have been fine battling through some soreness but decided to let them know."
deGrom wouldn't confirm that he'd be ready for his next start, but the hope was to minimize the potential time off the mound by staying out in front of it and avoiding further injury.
"I wanted to get it looked at just to be safe early in the season…and hopefully just miss one, where if I went out there and did something and actually hurt myself, I would have been out a lot longer," deGrom said. "The day after the bullpen, it felt like something was off….I'm normally not sore the day before I pitch. That's when I decided we needed to be safe here."
deGrom is the first pitcher in MLB history to record 50 strikeouts in his first four starts, and has allowed just two earned runs in 35 innings this season. Each outing has become must-see TV, and the hope is he will be back on the mound after a brief scare.
"I think after getting it looked at…it's in a good spot, I guess," deGrom said. "Any time it creeps up towards the armpit, then it's not good, but the spot is in is definitely manageable. We'll just reevaluate tomorrow, revisit with the doctor and go from there."
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