Jacob deGrom Making Second Start Back from Shoulder Injury

New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom will make his second start of the season at 4:10 p.m. ET against the Braves.

The 34-year-old two-time Cy Young winner pitched five innings on Tuesday against the Nationals, allowing 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 6. He was lifted after just 59 pitches, indicating the Mets plan to ease him back into game action.

deGrom had a 75-pitch limit in his last rehab start, but the team has not publicly stated a pitch count for his first few starts in the majors.

The career Met has made just 16 starts over the last two seasons yet produced incredible results when he's on the mound.

There's no doubt his stuff is nearly unhittable, but the Pro Baseball Docs have lingering concerns that his arm issues are not fully fixed.

deGrom was shut down in July 2021 with right elbow inflammation. The team and deGrom insisted he his UCL was intact and fully ready to go for this season, but he suffered a stress reaction in his shoulder near the end of spring training.

Ahead of the season, the Pro Baseball Docs gave deGrom a SIC score of 62 because of the lingering arm issues. That number has proven to be too high, as he's making his second start of the season with just 54 games to play. 

Despite missing deGrom – and Scherzer for nearly two months – the Mets are 69-39 and sit 5.5 games ahead of the Braves in the National League East.

New York ranks fifth in team ERA at 3.61 and are tied for the fourth most quality starts with 48.