Jacob deGrom ‘ready to roll’ for Sunday; Noah Syndergaard, Seth Lugo to start rehab assignments

NEW YORK — Jacob deGrom’s minor injury scare is behind him.

The Mets ace is on track to make his start against the Diamondbacks in the series finale on Sunday at Citi Field after he missed his last outing due to right lat inflammation.

“Any time you’re talking about someone that special, it’s a relief whenever there is any kind of potential health issue,” Mets GM Zack Scott said. “As we did the due diligence and work on it, it wasn’t something that anyone thought was a major issue.”

DeGrom came out of his bullpen session feeling better and “looking good,” per Scott. DeGrom dialed his fastball up to 98 mph, in an encouraging sign that the ace felt confident in his pitching mechanics and not held back by his side discomfort.

“He’s ready to roll for tomorrow,” Scott said. “Definitely I’m relieved.”

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Noah Syndergaard (Tommy John surgery) and Seth Lugo (surgery for loose bone chips) are both expected to begin rehab assignments “in a week or so,” according to Scott. It’s an exciting sign that the pitchers will soon return to the big league club.

“That would be a good step forward for both of them to get them on their way back,” Scott said. “I don’t think anything has really changed on their timeline.”

The rehab outing for Syndergaard will be his first time facing another uniform since spring training in March 2020, just before the pandemic paused sports and he had surgery. He has not pitched in a major league game since Sept. 29, 2019 against the Braves. The right-hander will use the assignment to build up his pitch count and up-downs in innings.

Syndergaard is due back in June and Lugo, who as a reliever is expected to build up faster, will likely join the bullpen toward the end of this month.