Jacob deGrom headed to New York for tests on right shoulder
PHILADELPHIA -- Jacob deGrom, the Mets' rookie who has made a surprising run at National League Rookie of the Year honors, is headed back to New York for tests after lingering soreness in his right shoulder.
The club has already scratched him from his next scheduled start on Tuesday, and potential candidates to replace him include top prospects Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero. Syndergaard's next start would fall Tuesday -- exactly in line with deGrom.
But if deGrom missed just one start, the Mets could stick with options already on the roster such as righty Carlos Torres, who has made spot starts in the past.
Daisuke Matsuzaka would be eligible to come off the disabled list, though he is still working his way back from elbow inflammation and wouldn't be ready for a Tuesday start. Instead, he will pitch at Class-A Port St. Lucie on Monday.
'We're in the process of determining who's going to make that start,' assistant general manager John Ricco said. 'Some of it may depend on what we here tomorrow from the doctors.'
DeGrom, 26, downplayed the issue and insisted he could have continued pitching through the soreness. He even reported improvement on Sunday, Ricco said. But with the Mets only a short drive from New York, Ricco said deGrom was sent for precautionary tests.
Said Ricco: 'We don't want to take any chances.'
In 16 starts, deGrom is 6-4 with a 2.87 ERA. Though he has been overshadowed by the likes of Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler and Matt Harvey, deGrom has been the Mets' top starting pitcher this season.
'I'm calm about it,' deGrom said. 'I don't think it's going to be serious. I could probably go out there and pitch with it right now. But just talking to them, at this time of the year, it's not really worth pushing it. If I can skip one and be 100 percent and let it calm down that was kind of what they talked about.'
In the minors last season, deGrom said he endured a similar issue, though elsewhere in his right shoulder. Until now, deGrom said he hadn't had any shoulder issues this year.
The Mets have been weighing ways to cap deGrom's innings. He has pitched 100 1/3 innings in the big leagues this year in addition to 38 1/3 in the minors. He's limited at about 185 innings.
'This may be, hopefully, a case where if we end up skipping a start, that just helps us with that (innings limit),' Ricco said. 'We were talking about doing that anyway. So, that may end up being the result of this, where he misses a start and we start managing his workload.'
Syndergaard, 21, has endured an inconsistent season at Triple-A Las Vegas. Though he was expected to be promoted as early as June, he had been sidelined by injuries early in the season. But team officials have been encouraged by Syndergaard's recent outings, during which he has improved upon his secondary offerings.
In his last four starts, Syndergaard has posted a 1.21 ERA.
For the season, Syndergaard is 8-6 with a 4.79 ERA. He has 111 strikeouts with 35 walks.
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