Jacob deGrom’s 2,000th Strikeout Strengthens a Fascinating Hall of Fame Case

The Rangers hurler’s career has been afflicted by injuries, but at age 38 he’s making a late push for Cooperstown and has an interesting historic comparable.

Jacob deGrom became one of 94 pitchers to reach 2,000 strikeouts on Thursday. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Is Jacob deGrom, he of just 105 wins, four complete games and two shutouts, a future Hall of Famer? The debate sharpened Thursday when the Rangers righthander reached 2,000 career strikeouts in a dominating win over the Nationals.

“In my opinion,” says Rangers manager Skip Schumaker, “he is a Hall of Fame pitcher. I think in the end, he will be a Hall of Fame pitcher.”

No modern starting pitcher has made the Hall of Fame with fewer than the 150 wins of Dizzy Dean. deGrom is 38 and signed through next season with a mutual option for 2028.

Jacob deGrom is the newest member of the 2,000 strikeouts club 🔥 pic.twitter.com/DwQN0JAYxe

— MLB (@MLB) August 21, 2026

Pitching metrics and volume have changed. deGrom won his two Cy Young Awards with 10 and 11 wins. Corbin Burnes won a Cy Young Award with 167 innings. The same reappraisal will work its way into Hall of Fame voting by the time deGrom gets on a ballot. Voters increasingly prefer shorter windows of dominance over traditional counting stats.

deGrom qualifies as a Hall of Famer on dominance. He has been one of the best pitchers of his generation. From an aesthetic view, he changed the game. He was a starting pitcher who could sit at 99–100 mph on his fastball and unleash 94 mph sliders, all with a beautiful, silky delivery. He elevated the craft of pitching to a higher level.

deGrom reached 2,000 strikeouts in 272 games. Only Randy Johnson hit 2K faster (262). Ninety-four pitchers have reached 2,000 strikeouts, including the likes of Andy Benes, Bob Newsom and Lance Lynn. But what places deGrom among the most elite strikeout pitchers is his career ERA of 2.66.

He is one of only 17 pitchers with 2,000 strikeouts and an ERA under 3.00. Three of them are not yet eligible for the Hall (deGrom, Chris Sale and Clayton Kershaw). The other 14 are all in the Hall of Fame. deGrom ranks second among those elite 17 in ERA, behind Kershaw and in front of Sandy Koufax.

Yes, the decline phase of deGrom’s career might add to his final ERA, but not by much. And by the way he threw the ball against Washington Thursday, he has plenty of baseball left (injuries aside, the necessary disclaimer with oft-injured deGrom).

deGrom Aging Gracefully Despite Plenty of Injuries

Velocity is a young man’s skill. But at 38, deGrom amazingly still ranks as an elite thrower:

Highest Four-Seam Velocity, 2026 (min. 750 fastballs)

Pitcher	Age	MPH
1. Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers	24	100.6
2. Bubba Chandler, Pirates	23	98.5
3. Eury Perez, Marlins	23	98.3
4. Cam Schlittler, Yankees	25	98.0
5. Roki Sasaki, Dodgers	24	97.9
6. Chase Burns, Reds	23	97.6
7. Jacob deGrom, Rangers	38	97.3

deGrom has made 23 starts this year. All other pitchers his age or older combined have made 12. 

“Yeah, it's incredible,” Schumaker said. “He's just that freak athlete that does everything great. If it's ping pong, if it's basketball, whatever, he’s one of those guys that kind of [ticks] you off in life because everything he touches is just easy for him.

“Now having said that, the greatest players are always trying to evolve, and they're never satisfied. His approach early on in his career was down and away.  He could dot a gnat's ass with his fastball, right? Down and away at a hundred. That's just kind of a safe spot for him. What teams have been doing lately is hanging out over the plate and not having to worry about anything inside.

“So, the challenge for him now is, can we throw the ball inside more? Can we utilize the sinker that he's been trying to work on?”

deGrom did throw a sinker from 2015–18 but stopped in 2019. He brought the pitch back this season, but not enough for hitters to respect it. He has thrown only two in his past three starts. Look at his pitch chart against the Nationals’ right-handed hitters and you see almost nothing on the inside corner:

MLB

It didn’t matter. deGrom’s fastball and slider were so nasty he threw one-hit, shutout ball over six innings.

The best Hall of Fame comp for deGrom is Dean, who also has the fewest innings of a modern Hall of Fame starter (1,967.1). deGrom still trails Dean by 301 innings. But deGrom has more starts than Dean (272–230) and the vastly superior ERA+ (147–131).

Dean threw only six qualified seasons, the last at age 27. His career was cut short by injury. But he is a Hall of Famer because he was more famous and dominant than prolific. It took Dean nine years on the ballot to be elected by the BBWAA. deGrom is a modern-day Dizzy Dean and then some.

Reaching 2,000 strikeouts with a 2.66 ERA? Yes, that means deGrom is on the Hall of Fame highway.

The Ultimate Sign of Respect

This story from Schumaker tells you what teams were up against facing peak deGrom:

“I will tell you a crazy story about deGrom. I was coaching first base with the Padres, and Andy Green was the manager. And deGrom was so good that if anybody got on base, it was automatic hit-and-run first pitch. And we ended up winning that game [4–0]. He won the Cy Young that year.

“That's how dominant this guy was. I have never seen a guy like that, and he's not far off from that guy still—which is crazy.”

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