Mets skipper Luis Rojas provided a few different updates on Sunday as the team makes their final preparation for Monday’s opener against the Phillies in Philadelphia.
Rojas provided another encouraging update on starter Carlos Carrasco, who continues his recovery from his hamstring tear.
Rojas, who said earlier this week that Carrasco has been progressing “really, really well,” said on Sunday that the right-hander threw two innings again on Sunday, throwing every pitch in his repertoire.
“We did see a live feed of Carrasco pitching today. He threw two innings in St. Lucie, so an up-down, 30 pitches in two innings, 15 pitches an inning,” Rojas said.
“Everything, we say the changeup, slider, fastball. He was locating well, he’s pushing off. He didn’t do anything as far as getting off the mound and fielding or anything like that, but he did one up-down, so that’s good.
“You can be optimistic about how sooner rather than later he could be with us, but we’ve still got to wait and see how he’s responding. Like the stage where he gets to fielding his position, covering first and things like that, pushing off that back leg, those type of things, I know they also come into play. But it’s definitely very encouraging to see him pitch and do that up-down and throw the ball freely like he was today.”
Will deGrom start on Saturday?
While it’s been known that Jacob deGrom would get the ball on Monday against the Phillies, a big question has been whether or not deGrom will pitch again Saturday at home against the Marlins.
The Mets could run deGrom back out that day, or could use Joey Lucchesi or even an opener.
Rojas said it will all depend on how deGrom feels after making his first start of the season on Monday.
“We still haven’t made the decision yet about Saturday. We’re going to see how Jake goes tomorrow,” Rojas said. “We know there’s been some disruptions in his in-between-start routine, so we’ll se how he feels and then we can talk about Saturday, if he can come back for that on his day or if we’ll have Lucchesi or an opener/Lucchesi.
“So, we’ll come back to that one.”
For now, the Mets’ rotation is lined up to be deGrom, Marcus Stroman, David Peterson, and Taijuan Walker in their first four games, with that fifth game still up in the air.