DeGrom says team not worried about high expectations
USA TODAY SPORTS
PORT ST. LUCIE — Jacob deGrom is enjoying the quiet. The Mets righthander looked around the clubhouse Friday morning and said there is no reason for much talk this spring, no need to discuss expectations or possibilities, because they are obvious. DeGrom and the Mets just know. “We pretty much have the same guys (as the 2015 World Series run) and so we know this team can make it there, so it’s just about going out there and playing and getting the job done,” deGrom said with a shrug. “We know we can make it, we just have to go out there and do it.”
Saturday was another example of how low-key the Mets and their pitchers are taking this spring. DeGrom quietly pitched six-plus innings against some of the Mets’ advanced minor leaguers like Matt Reynolds, Gavin Cecchini and Dom Smith. The radar gun at First Data Field was turned off, so while it was obvious deGrom was throwing hard, it was more impressive to focus on his command and working on his different pitches.
“I felt like I was able to locate, kind of throw the ball where I wanted to,” deGrom said. “That last inning I think I threw all changeups just to work on it and I was pleased with how that went.”
DeGrom struck out six and gave up four hits. It was a good, quiet day’s work, one of his last of the spring.
DeGrom is possibly going to make one more, albeit shortened, appearance before starting the season, which for him likely will be on April 5 against former teammate Bartolo Colon and the Braves. DeGrom said he wouldn’t buzz Colon at the plate, but he’s a little nervous about facing the 43-year old, who hit his first home run last season.
“I just don’t want him to get a hit off me,” deGrom said with a laugh.
Don’t mistake the easy-going jokes or quiet around deGrom and the Met pitching staff this spring for a lack of confidence. They may not be talking about great expectations, but they have them.
And there are great expectations for deGrom after showing he is fully back from September surgery to move his ulnar nerve.
“He looks like he did early in 2015, he’s throwing free and easy. He’s hitting 97 without much effort,” one scout who has watched three of deGrom’s starts this spring said. “He showed he knows how to go out and pitch even when he doesn’t have his best stuff all of last year.
“Now that he has it, it’s going make him that much more dominant this season.”
DeGrom thinks that 2016, a year that he begrudgingly admits he knew would never come together, was an important year for this staff. He was one of three pitchers whose season ended with injury and required surgery and rehab.
It was all part of an experience that deGrom said may not have been necessary, but can be beneficial.
“Last (spring), I was coming off a year of throwing the most innings I’ve ever thrown. I don’t know if maybe I took too much time off, because it was the first time being there. And then, trying to get ready in spring, things just didn’t fall into place as they normally have in the past, meaning my arm wasn’t feeling as good as it should,” deGrom said. “And then you know, with my first start, I had the lat (strain), then my son was born and then later on the elbow stuff.”
It ended as a bad year, which had started with the Mets making a lot of noise about their 2015 run to the World Series. They talked a lot about finishing the job in 2016.
That did not happen, but deGrom and many of the Mets feel that 2016 was actually part of that process. It was learning how to respond to those stressful innings late in the year and how to rearrange years-old offseason habits.
“I think we’ll just be more mentally prepared to pitch that late in the year,” deGrom said. “We know what it takes to get there. Everybody tries to say, it’s going to be like this or that, but until you are there, you don’t know. Having the experience and knowing what to kind of expect is definitely a plus for us.”
DeGrom is going into 2017 looking to pitch 200 regular season innings and be the guy the Mets can rely on every fifth day.
“It’s not easy to go out there and throw 200 innings. I don’t think anybody here has, not including playoffs,” said deGrom, who along with Matt Harvey threw 218 innings through the World Series in 2015. “So I think that’s kind of the next thing, make the 35 starts, get to that 200 mark.”
That is a quiet, workman’s goal for deGrom. It’s one he’s comfortable with and one that, if he reaches it, can certainly help the Mets meet all those quiet expectations of this spring.