Jacob deGrom will take another step toward Citi Field on Friday night in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The Mets’ two-time Cy Young award winner, who is coming back from a stress reaction on his right scapula, is scheduled to make his second rehab start with Single-A St. Lucie.
DeGrom is set to throw three “ups,” according to the team, which would at least take him into the third inning of his start.
In his first rehab start on Sunday, deGrom threw 24 pitches while striking out five of the six batters he faced in 1 ²/₃ innings. He topped out at 101 mph and clocked triple-digit velocities on seven pitches.
“It’s been good, everybody’s been upbeat about it,” manager Buck Showalter said Thursday before the Mets’ 10-0 win over the Marlins. “And people talk about, ‘Is he throwing too hard?’ When a guy with another uniform gets in the batter’s box — that’s kind of what he said: ‘I’m not trying to, it’s just all of a sudden the guy’s trying to hit me and beat me and I go in to pitch.’ Which is good from a standpoint of getting ready for what’s going to happen here.
“I’d rather [answer] the question, ‘Is he throwing too hard?’ than, ‘Is he throwing too soft?’ Where does that end? What’s the perfect velocity? … So would it be good this time for him to not throw as hard? I have no idea. It’s all going to get answered if and when — not if, but when he gets here.”
Before Thursday’s game, the Mets optioned right-handed reliever Adonis Medina to Triple-A Syracuse and called up right-handed reliever Jake Reed.
Reed wasted no time contributing, throwing two perfect innings with a pair of strikeouts to close out the game.
Medina had thrown three scoreless innings in Wednesday’s win over the Reds after a brief start from David Peterson. The 25-year-old Medina owns a 3.00 ERA across 21 innings this season.
The Mets on Thursday dedicated the Citi Field mailroom to long-time employee Tod Tillotson, who passed away last August, as part of their first Disability Pride Night. Tillotson, who was deaf, started working in the Mets’ mailroom as a 15-year-old in 1964 before retiring after the 2019 season.
