Ace deGrom feeling ‘completely normal’
Jacob deGrom said he feels “completely normal.”
The right-hander said the stress reaction in his right scapula is no longer bothering him. Soon, he will be back on the mound, although the Mets’ ace didn’t have an exact time frame for that. But he is making progress toward returning to the team.
“So far, everything has felt good,” deGrom, a two-time Cy Young award winner, said in his first public comments since Opening Day. “I feel completely normal.”
DeGrom, who last pitched in a regular-season game on July 7, 2021, said Saturday before the Mets faced the Phillies at Citi Field that he long-tossed from 135 feet on Friday. The next step is getting on the mound and, at some point, making a few rehab starts in the minor leagues. DeGrom said he believes he will need to work up to four innings before being ready to start a game for the Mets.
“I don’t really have any [apprehension] after talking to doctors and stuff,” he said. “Normally, bone heals stronger. The last report was good, and they said it was completely healed. So now, just make sure it handles the throwing and that nothing pops up. The way it’s gone so far, I feel great.”
The Post’s Jon Heyman recently reported that the Mets were eying a late-June return for deGrom, which is approximately four weeks away. When asked when he expects to be back, deGrom said he isn’t thinking that far ahead. He is more focused on the day-to-day of his rehab. For now, he doesn’t believe he has to undergo any further MRI exams, barring a setback.
“It’s just checking off each of those boxes along the way,” said the 33-year-old. “Everything’s felt good, so I’m sure that’s going to be a discussion in the next couple of days, when I get [on] the mound.”
DeGrom recently moved his workouts up north so he could be closely monitored by Merts officials. He will travel with the Mets on their upcoming Southern California trip, which will begin Thursday following the current six-game homestand. DeGrom has dealt with various injuries since the start of last season, but he insisted that won’t make him gun-shy or worried about suffering any further ones.
“You can’t go out there in fear. You do your best to prepare and go out there and play the game,” he said. “I don’t think many guys go out there and are scared of getting hurt. You go out there and compete, and you leave it all out there.”
The Mets gave Brandon Nimmo a proverbial stop sign a few weeks after he was injured on a slide at home plate.
After playing through pain in his right wrist for most of May, dating back to a series in Philadelphia, Nimmo was not in the starting lineup for Saturday’s 8-2 victory over the Phillies after undergoing an MRI exam he said revealed a sprained joint and required a cortisone shot.
“The last five days it has gotten a little worse,” Nimmo said, “so let’s nip it in the bud.”
The pain is worse on a foul ball or on a swing and miss than it is on fair contact, Nimmo admitted. It sounds as if the center fielder could miss the game Sunday, too, but he isn’t worried about landing on the 10-day injured list.
“Not at all. I’ve been playing on it for a while. This is more to get me back to 100 percent,” Nimmo said. “Nothing to be too worried about. It’s just irritated right now. They want me to not be having pain on my swings. Hopefully the next couple days will help with that.”
➤ After nearly three decades covering the Mets, Ed Coleman was celebrated by the franchise Saturday.
The affable and easygoing longtime radio reporter, who hosted pregame and postgame radio shows on WFAN and WCBS starting in 1993, retired this offseason.
Coleman, affectionately known as “Eddie C,” threw out the ceremonial first pitch to former Mets closer John Franco and was given a custom Mets jersey with his name on the back of it. During a press conference, the Mets played a video of David Wright congratulating Coleman.
➤ With a need for extra outfielders after Travis Jankowski was lost for up to two months with a fracture to the fourth metacarpal of his left hand, the Mets called up outfielder Nick Plummer from Triple-A Syracuse and demoted reliever Yoan Lopez.