Jacob deGrom knows the story between the Mets and the Nationals and that the Mets haven’t really done much against them in the last two years.
Still, deGrom isn’t fretting over that as he’s tasked with facing the Nationals in his first regular season start tonight.
“I don’t look too much into that,” deGrom told the New York Post. “I just go out there every time and no matter who steps in or who I’m throwing against, just put us in a position to win.”
deGrom plans to follow a simple blueprint against Washington tonight, and that is essentially what Bartolo Colon did in the Mets’ Opening Day victory on Monday.
“He just located and kept the ball down and threw the ball really well,” deGrom said. “That’s my game plan: Throw strikes and keep it down. I’m going to take that into Wednesday.”
Despite facing the Nationals twice during Spring Training, including his second to last start of camp last week, the club isn’t concerned with overexposing deGrom against the Nationals this early in the season, according to Puma.
He did face a similar lineup to what he’ll face tonight, but if deGrom is sharp, his power stuff will play just fine against Washington even if they are familiar with him. He’s likely to face the Nationals a few more times this season anyway, and as a pitcher it’s his job to make adjustments – both in his game plan and during a game – as he see fits in order to keep the hitters from guessing right no matter what.
Considering he’s a strike thrower, it will be interesting to see if the Nationals are aggressive early in counts against deGrom tonight. He fanned nearly 41 percent of the batters he faced last year when he got ahead in the count, a neutralizing agent I’m sure Washington wants to avoid.
Just Mets 