Jacob deGrom scratched from start with back stiffness, Mets will pitch Seth Lugo

The Mets announced this morning that 27-year-old pitcher Jacob deGrom will not make his scheduled start this afternoon as the Mets visit the Tigers because of back stiffness. According to deGrom, the problem arose from an old mattress, which was too soft, and has since been replaced. He will pitch a bullpen in Port St. Lucie today, however, and said that he didn't want to take the long bus ride because of his back.

This is deGrom's second minor setback of this spring training. Very early on, he missed a bullpen session because of groin soreness. He has made one start in Grapefruit League play thus far, and he threw three innings, allowed one run, and struck out two opponents in it. His velocity wasn't as high as it normally is, but deGrom said afterwards that he intended for that to be the case as he worked on some things.

Last year, in his second season in the big leagues, deGrom had a 2.54 ERA and 2.70 FIP in 30 starts and 191.0 innings in the regular season. In the postseason, he made four starts, threw 25.0 innings, and had a 2.88 ERA.