Jake feels better, but plays it safe
Jacob deGrom listened to his body and decided to play it safe. The Mets ace was scratched from his start against the Cardinals with a sore right lat on Tuesday. By Wednesday, he was feeling better, but planned to wait a little longer before making his next start.
“I’m feeling good now,” deGrom said before the Mets’ doubleheader against the Cardinals. “The plan’s to see the doctor again tomorrow and let him re-evaluate. Then the plan is to play catch again tomorrow if everything goes well.”
DeGrom went six innings and took the loss in his last start against the Red Sox, giving up one earned run on three hits and one walk with nine punchouts. He was visibly frustrated with his performance, coming off three consecutive 14K+ outings.
“I noticed my mechanics were off,” the Mets ace said. “Looked at some of the video and got some of the numbers and my arm was down a little bit so, like I said, flying open. So that’s obviously going to put more stress on the arm, but didn’t think too much about it. Went about all my recovery stuff and to be honest, I felt pretty good. I threw my bullpen in Philly and I was like ‘OK I feel pretty good.’
“First day here, woke up and I noticed my lat was pretty sore,” he continued. “Then woke up yesterday and didn’t really notice much of an improvement . ... If it improved a little bit, I think I would’ve been fine, would’ve been battling through some soreness, but decided to let ’em know and wanted to get it looked at just to be safe early in the season . ... So tried to err on the side of caution and just hopefully miss one.”
DeGrom wasn’t certain he would be ready to make his next start through the rotation, instead deferring to what the team’s physician determines.
He had his last start, against the Nationals pushed back after pitching in Colorado, but said he needed the extra day because pitching at Coors Field usually requires more recovery time.
WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?
Francisco Lindor, the Mets’ highest-paid player, has made good on his word to deliver his stellar defense. His offense, however, has yet to make an appearance. Over his first 23 games in blueand-orange, Lindor slashed just .163/.284/.209. He was in a horrendous 0-20 slump over the last five games before Wednesday.
When asked what the problem might be, Mets new hitting coach Hugh Quattlebaum said: “I talked to him a little last night for a little while and the best news is, he’s still in a really good place mentally. He’s not panicking. So I think number one, the first thing to pay attention to is not panicking. It still is really early in the year. He’s the guy that’s always figured out how to hit. He’s trying to feel some things out that worked in the past and that probably will be the process. We’re not there yet, I haven’t talked to him enough yet to dive into anything in particular.
“He’s probably still trying to figure out how to spell ‘Quattlebaum’ for god’s sake,” he joked. “But we’ll get there in time.”
MEET THE NEW COACH
Quattlebaum wasn’t exactly given much notice, but had an idea of where to start.
Expected to help a team with all the potential in the world, but struggling at the plate, the new Mets new hitting coach was tasked with picking up the team’s beleaguered batters.
“I just have a brief experience at this level,” Quattlebaum, 42, said before the Mets’ doubleheader against the Cardinals. “Preparation is key to everything up here and I think generally I would try to drive everything off of getting guys as confident as possible. Guys are more confident when they’re prepared. They feel more prepared when things are simple.
“So if we can get all the information we have and pair it all down to something really simple, guys will walk into the box more confident because they feel more prepared for what they’re going to see,” he continued. “Number one, this is a game of confidence 100%.”