Mets ace Jacob deGrom likely out until 'early to mid-June' due to stress reaction in scapula?

The New York Mets delivered bad news for fans ahead of this past weekend when they announced Friday that ace and two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom was essentially being shut down for at least four weeks with a stress reaction in the scapula of his pitching shoulder. ESPN's Jeff Passan later reported that deGrom will miss "a significant amount of time" over the first half of the upcoming season, and Anthony DiComo of the MLB website provided more information on Monday. 

Per DiComo, Dr. James Gladstone, who serves as the chief of sports medicine at Mt. Sinai Health System, explained that "scapular injuries like deGrom’s can often require six weeks to heal." Add in the time deGrom will need to prepare to face opposing batters in meaningful games, and DiComo notes that the 33-year-old may not take the bump until "early to mid-June, but maybe a bit earlier or later than that." 

It's worth noting that DiComo also provided examples of pitchers such as Matt Harvey and Michael Wacha missing multiple months of action due to similar "stress reactions." It's simply too early to tell how long deGrom will remain sidelined or if he will encounter any setbacks during his recovery. 

Injuries burdened deGrom and the Mets throughout 2021, and he still hasn't pitched in a regular-season game since July 7 because of a low-grade tear in the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. When healthy, he was arguably the league's best pitcher and posted a 7-2 record with a 1.08 ERA, 0.55 WHIP and 146 strikeouts across 92 innings of work in 15 starts on the campaign.