PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Upon swinging and missing at a Jacob deGrom pitch late Thursday morning, Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor turned and muttered one simple word: “Wow.” Moments later, Jeff McNeil made contact on a check-swing foul ball and exclaimed, “Yes! I touched it!”

In what has become an annual spring tradition, a group of Mets hitters grumbled and shook their heads throughout deGrom’s first live batting practice session. The only one to do much damage was Pete Alonso, who ripped a line drive into left-center field. Otherwise, deGrom flummoxed the group with plenty of swings and misses.

“Jake’s going to make the club,” manager Buck Showalter quipped afterward.

deGrom will throw off a mound again this weekend before making his Grapefruit League debut Tuesday against the Astros. The assignment lines him up to take three spring turns in total, with an extra day of rest before Opening Day in Washington.

In other words, deGrom is almost done tormenting his teammates for the season. It’ll be mostly opposing hitters from here on out.

“That’s very comforting,” new Mets outfielder Travis Jankowski said, laughing. “I’ve faced both [deGrom and Max Scherzer] a few times, and I don’t have great numbers, so don’t look those up. I’m glad that I only have to face them in spring.”

But before deGrom…
José Rodríguez and Thomas Szapucki will start the Mets’ intrasquad game Friday at Clover Park, which is free and open to the public. Grapefruit League games will begin the following day, with this rotation:

Saturday, at Washington: Josh Walker
Sunday, vs. St. Louis: David Peterson
Monday, at Miami: Scherzer
Tuesday, vs. Houston: deGrom

Finding depth in a familiar place
Coming out of a small high school in rural Pennsylvania, Jankowski received only one offer from a Division I school. That was Stony Brook University on Long Island, which isn’t typically a baseball powerhouse. But for a brief period, Jankowski helped build it into one, leading the Seawolves to the 2012 College World Series -- the first team from the Northeast to make that bracket since 1986.

A decade later, Jankowski still revels in those glory days, even as he has carved out a seven-year big league career. The outfielder finalized a Minor League deal with the Mets on Thursday, giving himself a chance to return to Long Island. Coming off a year in which he hit .252 with a .715 OPS over 76 games for the Phillies, Jankowski will compete with Nick Plummer, Khalil Lee and others for a spot on the Opening Day bench.

“Going to college in New York, I’m very familiar with it,” Jankowski said of his new team. “That’s kind of where my career went to the next level in college, so I’m thrilled to be here. I think the roster speaks for itself. I think we’re here to win, so I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Competing for a job
If every projected Mets starting pitcher is healthy enough to make the rotation, the equation is simple for David Peterson, who would almost certainly be on the outside looking in.

Peterson knows that. He also understands there’s a chance either Taijuan Walker or Carlos Carrasco, who are working their way back from offseason surgeries, won’t be ready to go by Opening Day. And he knows that, in either case, the Mets are going to need more than five starters over the course of a season.

“The only thing I can focus on is myself -- do my job, be a valuable piece to help contribute to wins,” Peterson said. “We’ve seen it in the past, we need pitching. We need as much as we can get. … Depth is a huge thing. It’s something that the organization’s talked about wanting, and I think we have a lot of it. So for me, it’s getting the most out of myself and honestly being the competitor I want to be out there. I want to be in the five-man rotation and just help this team and contribute however I can.”

Last season, Peterson was part of that mix until a right oblique strain and a fractured right foot combined to knock him out for the season. The left-hander underwent foot surgery in July and was “fully healthy, 100 percent” before the start of the offseason, which allowed him to report to camp “ahead of where I usually am” at this time of year.

Now, Peterson -- the Mets’ first-round pick in the 2017 Draft -- is looking to prove that he can offer not only rotation depth, but a long-term solution for the starting five. He began with two scoreless innings in a simulated game earlier this week at Clover Park.

“That was the main thing for me, was [to get] healthy,” Peterson said, “and be a valuable piece of this team and contribute to help win. That’s the goal for everybody in this room, and I want to be a part of that.”

I got it!
Adding a layer to the Mets’ usual popup drills on Thursday morning, Showalter asked stadium officials to pump in crowd noise to simulate what it’s like in a game. As each ball rose in the air, a technician increased the volume, forcing Mets players to improve their communication.

“You’re always trying to simulate game situations,” Showalter said. “There are so many things in Spring Training that you can do on [the back fields] and it works smooth, but it’s not the reality of how the game works.”