DeGrom returns from injury to lead Mets rotation
It’s not a stretch to say that as Jacob deGrom goes, so go the New York Mets.
Indeed, when the two-time Cy Young winning right-hander went down last season with a forearm strain after his July 7 start, the Mets were leading the NL East with a 46-37 record and deGrom was enjoying another fine year with a 7-2 won-lost mark, a 1.08 ERA and a WHIP of .55. The Mets’ first playoff appearance in five years seemed assured and a third trophy very likely for their ace.
But then deGrom, who had been nagged throughout the season by what appeared to be minor aches and pains, finally succumbed to what was initially diagnosed as a partially torn UCL then changed to a strained forearm.
Though a collective sigh of relief went up among the Mets and their faithful at the news, it didn’t help them on the field. Without deGrom, the pitching collapsed, the hitters didn’t hit and the Mets went 31-48 the rest of the way to nosedive out of the postseason. In the process, they became the only team in baseball history to finish with a sub-.500 record after leading their division for three-plus months.
Now presumably healthy, deGrom is joined this season by three-time Cy winner Max Scherzer and former A’s ace Chris Bassitt to form a formidable 1-2-3 punch atop the New York rotation. Whether that will be good enough to stave off the Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals and defending world champion Atlanta Braves in an uber-competitive NL East remains to be seen.
The Mets open the 2022 season with deGrom on the mound Thursday, April 7, when they challenge the Nationals in Washington, D.C.
FULL NAME:
deGrom
Jacob Anthony
BIRTH DATE: June 19, 1988
BIRTHPLACE: DeLand, Fla.
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6 feet 4 inches/180 pounds
Star (2015, 2018, 2019, 2021); two-time Cy Young Award winner (2018, 2019); NL ERA leader (2018); two-time NL strikeout leader (2019, 2020); NL Rookie of the Year (2014)
“I think that she’s ruthless about certain things but she has to be. I mean, that’s the nature of that jo job, is that you’re not emotional about things that normal human beings are emotional about. But that doesn’t mean you have no emotions.” – Fiona Shaw on h her character of spy C Carolyn Martens on BBC A America’s “Killing Eve” “I’m still old school. I have my iPhone calendar and I also have my paper c calendar and I write things down. My father was in the Army for 30 years a and he would always say to me, ‘Sunday night, lay out all your clothes for the entire week. That way you don’t have to think about it. It’s already set.’ And what I saw at the time were regimented and strident rules but they’re rules now that I live by.” – Tamron Hall of “Someone They Knew ... With Tamron Hall” on Court TV and “Tamron H Hall” in syndication “Look, you have to be v very ballsy to get on any of these competition shows, adult or child or anywhere in between, but they are fearless. ... And they very rarely get stuck i in their heads of like, oh, performance anxiety or is this going to be good e enough. It’s very much about their own personal fulfillment, which I love.” – Daphne Oz on the youthful contestants on Fox’s “MasterChef Junior,” o on which she is a judge