Star right-hander Jacob deGrom said Sunday he is staying optimistic that he won’t be out for long after beginning his latest stint on the injured list due to inflammation in his pitching elbow.

The two-time National League Cy Young Award winner, who has dealt with injuries over the last three-plus seasons, said on Sunday that “there’s a little inflammation in there, so the goal is to get that knocked out here in the next few days and resume throwing. I’m staying optimistic about it.

“Everything structurally looks fine, so get a little bit of that swelling out of there and pick up from there.”

He went on the IL on Saturday, a day after he worked only 3 2/3 innings against the New York Yankees. It marked the second time this month he left a start due to arm issues. The soonest he could be activated is May 14.

deGrom, who signed a five-year, $185 million deal in the offseason, made just 38 starts and pitched 224 1/3 total innings in 2020-22. He pitched 217 and 204 innings per season in his Cy Young campaigns of 2018-19.

“I want to be out there. It was just some discomfort,” deGrom said, referring to Friday night’s shortened start. “It was not crazy, but it was just there and lingering so I looked in the dugout and was like, ‘Hey, it’s not feeling right.’ So that’s the goal: To get that feeling right.”

In six starts this season, deGrom is 2-0 with a 2.67 ERA and has 45 strikeouts and just four walks in 30 1/3 innings.

–Field Level Media