MIAMI – As Jacob deGrom accelerates to pitch again this season, the Mets on Tuesday offered a clearer explanation for the right-hander’s two-month absence from the mound.
Team president Sandy Alderson acknowledged that deGrom was dealing with a “sprain” in his right elbow. Alderson called it the “lowest grade” of a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament.
DeGrom underwent Tommy John surgery after the Mets recruited him in 2010, but Alderson said no action is needed on this rehab.
The diagnosis of tears contradicts previous messages from the organization that deGrom did not treat a structural problem with the elbow.
“This is a very low thing that has been resolved,” Alderson said before the Mets faced the Marlins. “The ligament is perfectly intact at the moment. Any conditions that existed before have been resolved and are one of the reasons why he did not file for a period of time. “
DeGrom played catch before Tuesday’s game – in the past two weeks he has gradually increased the distance of his throws to more than 100 feet. The goal is to increase the deGrom enough to test it on a mound, perhaps in a match before the end of the season.
“By bringing it back, what we’re trying to do is recreate that pain to see what its threshold is and hopefully it doesn’t reproduce,” Alderson said. “That doesn’t mean we raise it until it breaks. My point is that we need to start seeing if it’s a more chronic issue that has something to do with mechanics, but the more we know we get into the next season, we better be.
“I don’t expect it to increase by more than 75% before we have an idea of where this is going. As for its presentation the rest of the season, I think there’s still a lot left in the air.”
The Mets ace was enjoying a historic season (he reached an ERA of 1.08 in 15 starts), though marked by several physical ailments that shortened his outings before being put on the injured list. after returning from the All-Star break with discomfort in his forearm.
DeGrom has averaged 99.2 mph with his fast ball speed this season, MLB’s highest. Alderson was asked about the potential correlation between this speed and pitcher elbow problems.
“I don’t know exactly what caused the problem, but if you look at baseball in general, I think speed has something to do with a lot of those injuries,” Alderson said. “I do not know if this is true or not. But I think there is some correlation. I’m not a doctor, I haven’t done the research, but I suspect there is a correlation between the speed of current pitchers and the injury rate, which is a concern for baseball. “
Alderson said he’s not sure if it’s realistic to just tell deGrom not to throw so much.
“It’s hard to know how these limitations are imposed and then apply them,” Alderson said. “So I don’t know.”