The illness opens the door for one of the Mets' pitching prospects to join their bullpen.
Following their victory over the Yankees, the Mets placed Gonzalez Germen on the disabled list with a virus and recalled right-handed pitching prospect Jacob deGrom to take his place in the bullpen. Germen has a 3.57 ERA and 4.22 FIP in 17.2 innings with the Mets this year, but he had been out of commission with an illness that has affected a few Mets over the past few days. He threw a couple of times in the bullpen at Yankee Stadium on Monday night but obviously still didn't feel quite right.
As for deGrom, our fifteenth-ranked prospect heading into the season, he made seven starts for the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s with a 2.58 ERA and 3.73 FIP in a very tough environment for pitchers. He has never made a professional relief appearance but will begin doing so at the major league level. In his review of deGrom at the end of last season, Jeff Paternostro wrote:
deGrom is long and lean. He uses his height well, getting good extension and has an easy arm action. Fastball was only 91-94 in look, though reports have him touching 96. Labored under the humid conditions and was down to 90-92 by the end of his start. Showed a four-seamer and a two-seamer. Works sinker down and will elevate the four-seamer to put batters away. Command is only so-so, and was prone to bouts of wildness when I saw him, especially as he tired. In May he used an inconsistent slider that flashed solid-average with good tilt as his primary breaking ball. Has since switched to a curveball, which seems to be a more consistent offering, but has a rather short break to it. deGrom also has a potentially average change, but I don't know if the secondaries are good enough for him to start. The potential of the fastball to play up in shorter outings makes him an intriguing option out of the major league pen.