The Mets saw their lives flash before their eyes last night, as Jacob deGrom turned the Cubs into a mush to feed grandpa for three innings, and then abruptly left the game with shoulder soreness. This is after the flexor problems he’d had before, as well as the other nagging issues he’s been dealing with all season, between making MLB hitters look like a 4th-grade play, of course.
We don’t know how serious his case is yet, and as of now, he wasn’t blaming the lack of foreign substances for his problems. He probably won’t, because deGrom relies on velocity and pounding the upper half of the strike zone more than breaking pitches that turn into a magic trick. Again, it’s velocity. A lot has been made of deGrom’s ability to increase his velocity every season. But there’s only so much the body is built for. Especially after such a strange season last year. Even with his issues this year, deGrom has thrown four less innings already than he did all of last season. He’d racked up over 200 the previous three, but there’s simply no way to know how any pitcher is going to react after the coffee break of last year.
This might just be the way it’s going to be.