After the New York Mets pushed him back a game (two days), Jacob deGrom pitched for the first time in a week. We saw deGrom throw 87 pitches over six innings.

That was a bit of a surprise. After all, deGrom had thrown 95 pitches in 6.2 innings in his last start against the Atlanta Braves.

Remember, deGrom was given an extra couple of days. Part of that was getting Taijuan Walker back into the rotation. Still, there is cause to ask why deGrom didn’t go as long in this game.

As a point of reference, in deGrom’s fifth start last season, he threw 93 pitches over 6.0 innings. What does that mean now? Well, not that much.

In 2021, deGrom was in a much different place. He had a full Spring Training behind him. That’s not the case now.

Yes, deGrom pitched in Spring Training. However, he had to shut it down due to the shoulder injury. He could not throw until May.

During the rehab, deGrom did have a setback. It was not significant, but it did lead to his rehab schedule being delayed.

That’s just it. We see deGrom is still trying to get back up to speed. He has shown that in spurts, especially the earlier innings. After that, there are some signs of fatigue.

As a practical matter, deGrom dominated over six innings. That’s just part of the story.

We saw a pitcher uncomfortable with his fastball. He did throw it, but he was going to the slider note frequently. The end result was typical deGrom dominance.

However, he was tiring Part of the reason was the hot and humid August weather. Mostly, it was deGrom returning from an injury and not having pitched in a full season since 2019.

In the end, it’s just one start. You might’ve expected more and for deGrom to go deeper. The thing is he’s not ready, and mostly, it’s about October. Give it a month, and then let’s talk about how deep deGrom can go into games.