While they announced the return of Noah Syndergaard to the hill, the New York Mets disclosed on Tuesday that Jacob deGrom will not make another start in 2021.
Manager Luis Rojas confirmed the decision with the Mets playing out the final week of a playoff-less campaign. The 33-year-old righty threw a side session on Monday and “checked all the boxes” in terms of fulfilling what Rojas and the Mets’ performance staff wanted to see.
“There’s no sense to [him pitching again this year]. But he did check all the boxes and it was something we wanted to see that he’s all good,” Rojas said. “For him to go in the offseason and work on his normal things and come back in spring training like he does and get ready to compete, that’s the main thing for us.”
DeGrom has not pitched in an MLB game since early July due to right forearm tightness that led to elbow inflammation — which was just the latest of a litany of issues that derailed a season that was on pace to be one of the finest from a starting pitcher in a century.
Expectations, for now, is that deGrom will be able to completely partake in offseason activities to ensure he’ll be 100% ready to go for the 2022 season.
“Everyone is fully on board [with the decision],” Rojas said. “There wasn’t any pull more than others, it’s just the right thing.
“I think coming back in spring training, he’ll be the Jake that we all know.”
Before his trip to the injured list, deGrom led Major League Baseball with a 1.08 ERA, 146 strikeouts in 92 innings of work, a 0.554 WHIP, and 14.3 strikeouts-per-nine-innings mark. His time on the shelf, though, has seen the four-time All-Star fail to qualify for any pitching awards this season because he won’t accrue enough innings pitched.
