Rangers Ace Jacob deGrom Calls Setback 'Very Minor'
The Texas Rangers plan to evaluate pitcher Jacob deGrom today in the hope that he’ll be able to pitch from a mound for the first time this weekend.
“We’ll see where he’s at,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said on Thursday. “We talked to him yesterday and we don’t have any concerns. … We’ll see where he’s at and there’s a good chance he could be throwing the following day (Saturday).”
deGrom made it clear that if Thursday had been a regular-season game, he would be throwing. deGrom described the left-side tightness as “general” and “very minor” compared to the injury issues he’s had the past two seasons.
But the Rangers made the decision to sit him for the first couple of days as a precaution.
“When I got here, they just said, ‘Hey, let's take a couple days and knock this all the way out,” deGrom said.
deGrom and the Rangers agreed to a five-year, $185 million deal in the offseason. It’s the largest contract the Rangers have given to a pitcher. It’s also the first time the Rangers have signed a former Cy Young award winner in free agency.
So everything that happens with deGrom is going to make news, no matter how minor it is. His recent track record has something to do with it, too.
He missed half of the 2021 season due to right elbow inflammation. He missed the first half of last season with a stress reaction in his right scapula.
deGrom said he’s already well ahead of where he’s been the past two offseasons.
He was able to get in six sessions on a mound before arriving in Surprise on Tuesday when he normally is only able to get in two or three. He said the past two seasons that only his fastball and change-up were sharp by Spring Training. This time, deGrom says all of his pitches are ready.
He also said on Thursday that he experienced none of the tightness he felt the previous day.
Now, it’s most about the aggravation of being shut down for a day or two.
“How I prepared this offseason with the amount of throwing I did, I did more than normal, just to get in this in a good spot and then you know, I was very aggravated with something little like this to pop up,” deGrom said. “But thinking the bright side is how good my arm feels and where my stuff was at.”
Last year he went 5-4 with a 3.08 ERA in 11 starts with the Mets, but only played two months due to the scapula injury.
deGrom has pitched truncated seasons each of the last three years. The 2020 season was truncated due to COVID-19. In 2021 he went 7-2 with a 1.08 ERA, earned an All-Star Game berth and was ninth in Cy Young voting despite the injury.
Before that, deGrom was highly durable. He made 30 or more starts in four of his first six seasons in the Majors, with his 2018 and 2019 seasons both leading to National League Cy Young awards. In 2018 he led the Majors with a 1.70 ERA, followed by a a 2.43 ERA in 2019.
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