Jacob deGrom reported that he will not attend the 2021 All-Star Game at Coors Field in Denver to spend time with his family and rest for the second half of the current season.
“I thought about it and obviously being selected to the All-Star Game is a great honor, but I’m just going to take that time to spend with my family and be healthy for the second half,” said the New York Mets ace.
deGrom made the announcement after working seven innings and finishing a no-decision in the game in which the Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 in eight innings.
After being the only Mets player to be selected to the Midseason Classic, deGrom campaigned for teammate Tijuan Walker to take his place in the match.
“He deserves it 100 percent,” deGrom said of Walker, who is 7-3 with a 2.44 ERA in his first season with the Mets.
DeGrom’s ERA rose to 1.08 after allowing two solo home runs against the Brewers, the first by Mexican Luis Urias in the first inning. The Mets ace struck out 10 and reached 1,500 chocolates in his career. He is the second fastest pitcher to that number in Major League history, after achieving it in his 198th game, just one less than Japan’s Yu Darvish, who accomplished the feat this season.
If deGrom doesn’t pitch again before the All-Star Game, his 1.08 ERA will be the second-lowest in the break since 1933, when this game was first played (minimum 10 starts), according to ESPN Stats & Information. Bob Gibson had a 1.06 ERA at the break in the 1968 season, the year he won the Most Valuable Player award and finished with a 1.12 ERA.
When asked if he felt any responsibility to represent the National League at Coors Field after its dominant first half of the season, deGrom (7-2) said he thought about it, but didn’t think it would be “beneficial to travel back and forth. I go back to Colorado ”.
The two-time Cy Young winner skipped a start between April 28 and May 9 with abdominal muscle discomfort and returned to pitching until May 25 after being on the disabled list with what the Mets referred to as stiffness of the right side of the abdomen. deGrom abandoned his June 11 outing against the San Diego Padres after six innings with tendonitis in his right forearm.
In the game against the Brewers, deGrom headed for defeat, but Jose Peraza hit a pinch homer on Josh Hader’s pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning to ruin the Milwaukee closer’s rescue chance, his first in 20 in the current season.
deGrom was scheduled to open Tuesday night and again next Sunday, but his Tuesday departure was delayed by rain to Wednesday. It is unclear whether he will take to the mound against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday with a few days off. The right said that it is possible that he will pitch, but that that decision would be evaluated in the next few days.
Regardless of whether or not he starts again, deGrom said the best thing for him and the Mets was not to attend the All-Star Game.
“The best thing for both is not to go and rest for the second half,” he stressed. (ESPN)