deGrom Hits 101 mph in First Step Toward Mets Return

 

New York Mets' ace Jacob deGrom made a grand return to the pitching rubber after spending the past four months sidelined with a stress reaction in his right shoulder. 

The two-time Cy Young Award winner dominated the Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami Marlins single-A squad) down in Port St. Lucie as he tries to restart a season, and a career that was sidelined by arm issues exactly one year ago.

deGrom hit 100 mph on the radar gun six times on Sunday night, and needed only 24 pitches to strike out five batters in a 1-2/3 innings of work. In other words he looked like the Jacob deGrom who was 7-2 with a 1.08 ERA in 15 starts last season before various arm ailments ended his season.

According to reports the effort was the first of a 30-day rehab assignment (think of it as extended Spring Training) where deGrom can be activated at any point so long as he is activated before August 1.

The Mets are already ready to welcome back Max Scherzer to the rotation on Tuesday after a pair of successful rehab starts, and could soon welcome back deGrom before the month is out.

That would be great news for a Mets team that has hit the skids in recent weeks, and seen it's 10.5 game lead over Atlanta get narrowed down to as few as 2.5 games.