Mets ace Jacob deGrom shut down for at least two more weeks with right elbow inflammation

NEW YORK — Jacob deGrom’s sixth injury of the year — right elbow inflammation — is coming dangerously close to costing him the rest of his season.

DeGrom, whom the New York Mets on July 30 shut down from throwing for two weeks, will not throw for two more, manager Luis Rojas said on Friday. The Mets plan to send deGrom for another MRI in two weeks and reassess the plan based on those results.

DeGrom flew to Los Angeles on Thursday to see Dr. Near El Attrache, who provided another opinion on an MRI deGrom received this week. The verdict: The elbow inflammation has improved but not enough for deGrom to begin a throwing program.

It now seems the ace won’t be able to return until the middle of September at the earliest, a person with knowledge of the situation said. And that’s only if the next MRI is clean and deGrom is able to successfully complete a throwing progression.

"He's frustrated," Rojas said. "He wants to pitch. He wants to help the team. There's nothing he can do.

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"We just have to commit to these two weeks again now and just follow the experts' indications and the treatment so he keeps improving there. There is some improvement, but they would like to see more, probably."

Rojas said deGrom’s injury is "strictly elbow inflammation." The MRI did not reveal ligament damage. The Mets don’t seem to know why deGrom first experienced the inflammation.

On the Mets' recent road trip to Miami, deGrom said he would need to do plyometrics before picking up a baseball. This, of course, was before his most recent MRI. After these two weeks, deGrom will not have thrown a baseball in a month.

If he were to return this season, deGrom would be a starter, Rojas said. The Mets have not discussed using him out of the bullpen, like Noah Syndergaard. This also means deGrom would need a more thorough progression to properly stretch out as a starter.

The Mets entered Friday’s series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers a half-game behind the first-place Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets have 13 games against the Dodgers and Giants, two of baseball’s best teams.

They knew they wouldn’t have their ace for this brutal stretch. Now they know he might not return for quite some time after it.

"We’ve faced these things all year," Rojas said. "I think we've done a really good job. We've had a lot of guys go down, right? Significant guys. Jacob deGrom is the best pitcher in the game and he hasn't pitched for us now well over a month. We miss his presence on the field. We're not going to think differently than what we thought going into spring training. We're going to compete and we're going to face tough opponents and we're growing our mindset since then to where we are now that we're going to win. That's how we approach each game.

"After hearing this news and Jake telling everyone in the clubhouse what he heard from the doctors, I don't think that's going to put the guys' heads down. These guys are going to move forward the same way they have in the past. We're just going to get ready."

DeGrom, who has a 1.08 ERA over 15 starts this season, has not pitched since July 7. When the Mets returned from the All-Star break, they announced their ace had been experiencing right forearm tightness. The team soon placed him on the injured list.

On July 30, a day after deGrom threw a bullpen session, the Mets sent him for an MRI because he had been feeling something in his elbow. It revealed elbow inflammation.

That inflammation has since improved, but not to the degree that doctors would have liked.

DeGrom's season — which he recently said began as the best year of his career — might be in jeopardy.

"Right now we are playing without him and I feel like we have the talent to compete and win games," Rojas said. "And I felt like that for the whole season, so I have to say the same thing. I can’t say about for the rest of the season. We don’t know that yet.

"Right now we have a lot of talent on our roster and the guys work hard and trust in each other’s abilities and we have dealt with this same thing the entire season, so I don’t think that’s changing. And my thoughts of this group, they believe in each other and they show it every day out on the field. So I believe that we are going to win some games with this group of guys. Nothing is making us less or more right now because we have gone through this the whole season."

Follow Justin Toscano on Twitter @JustinCToscano.