NEW YORK _ Mets manager Luis Rojas and his coaching staff did not notice anything off about ace Jacob deGrom during the one inning he pitched in Tuesday night's intrasquad game. In fact, Rojas said, deGrom hit triple digits on the radar gun.
After deGrom completed the top of the first, Rojas was locked in watching Corey Oswalt face the top of the "home" order.
That's when Rojas was told deGrom had back tightness and needed to be shut down for the night.
"Nothing that we saw," Rojas said. "Nothing that (deGrom) mentioned or anything. He shared it with the medical staff and the pitching coach (Jeremy Hefner) after the first inning."
Rojas on Wednesday said deGrom will receive an MRI at some point during the day (the manager did not know when). The Mets are saying deGrom is "day to day." They have not elaborated on his injury, only calling it "back tightness" _ which was the official word on Tuesday night.
At the time of Rojas' Zoom briefing _ which occurred at 1:15 p.m. _ it was not clear when the team would receive deGrom's MRI results. But Rojas said the Mets will determine deGrom's next steps once they review those.
Something to note: The ace, Rojas said, has experienced back tightness in the past.
Rojas did not speak with deGrom after Tuesday night's game. He also had not seen him or spoken to him yet on Wednesday, but said the right-hander was at Citi Field in the morning meeting with the performance staff.
"Right now it's day to day," Rojas said, "and waiting on what comes out of (the MRI results)."
Of course, deGrom is the Mets' opening day starter. If healthy, he'll toe the rubber on July 24 against the Braves at Citi Field.
In this moment, though, Rojas said "it's still too early" to know how deGrom's back tightness might affect his availability for opening day.
You could argue deGrom, who has won the National League Cy Young Award in consecutive seasons, is the team's most important player. Starting pitching is always critical. In a 60-game season, it might be much more important than usual because every game, inning and out will mean more. There is much less room for error than in a 162-game campaign.
In a two-month season, a star player missing a month _ or even a couple weeks _ could be fatal.
"There's some things that happen in this game, and I think in any major sport, that get in the way of any plan you may have, but (the short season is) definitely something to take into consideration," Rojas said. "Injuries are going to play a big part in a short season like this."
Behind deGrom in the rotation, the Mets have Marcus Stroman, Steven Matz, Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha. Walker Lockett, who made spot starts for the club last season, is in the player pool. An intriguing option: Left-hander David Peterson, perhaps the team's most MLB-ready pitching prospect.
The Mets and their fans hope the organization is not forced to seriously consider its options.
But until deGrom's MRI results are back, nothing is for certain.
"It's not a secret that Jake would be your opening day starter," Rojas said. "We'll have to reassess. He's day-to-day, he's got back tightness, we'll reassess on that soon. We'll see what Jake's status is, and we'll learn more each day. We'll wait on those results today and then we'll probably have something on a day-to-day basis."
