PHILADELPHIA — The Mets received good news on Jacob deGrom’s right shoulder Monday, when an MRI exam revealed the pitcher has rotator cuff tendinitis.
DeGrom was placed on the 15-day disabled list and prescribed an anti-inflammatory, but is expected to resume pitching for the Mets this season.
Rafael Montero was summoned from Triple-A Las Vegas and is scheduled to start in deGrom’s place Tuesday at Citi Field against the Nationals.
Following the Mets’ 5-3 victory over the Phillies, manager Terry Collins indicated he was “relieved” to hear deGrom’s situation wasn’t serious.
“That’s about as good as you could have hoped for, if that’s all it was going to be,” Collins said. “It’s a good step for him. It will give him a little down time to get some strength and energy back in his arm and be ready for the last month.”
The rookie had alerted the Mets that he felt soreness in the shoulder playing catch following his Thursday start in Washington. The 26-year-old deGrom is 6-5 with a 2.87 ERA in 16 starts for the Mets and has emerged as a National League Rookie of the Year candidate.
By placing deGrom on the DL, the Mets likely will avoid having to shut him down in September. DeGrom has pitched 138 2/3 innings this season split between Triple-A and the Mets, and general manager Sandy Alderson has indicated 180 innings is the approximate cutoff point.
Montero went 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in four starts for the Mets this season. Since returning from an oblique injury that cost him time on the DL at Las Vegas, he is 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA in four starts.
Collins said he’s received strong reviews on Montero from Triple-A manager Wally Backman.
“One of the things [Backman] said the other day to me was [Montero] finally looked like he did last year, where everything was in the strike zone, it was down, they weren’t on the edges, and that’s what he’s got to do,” Collins said. “If he’s going to pitch, he’s got to be himself, and it sounds like he’s back to where he was a year ago.”
Montero struggled during his audition with the Mets, according to Collins, because he changed his pitching approach.
“I just think everybody raved about his command,” Collins said. “And he just tried to pitch to the edges and got behind in counts and that put him in big trouble.”