Tearful Jacob deGrom Says Missing Rest of Texas Rangers Season 'Stinks'
ARLINGTON, Texas — The emotion was real. The tears were real. Texas Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom was crest-fallen to learn he would not pitch again in 2023.
“To not be able to be out there, it stinks,” deGrom said Tuesday in a short media session before the Rangers faced the St. Louis Cardinals at Globe Life Field.
Before deGrom spoke, Rangers general manager Chris Young announced that deGrom would miss the remainder of the 2023 season with a torn UCL ligament in his right elbow. The damage was revealed on an MRI on Monday night.
Young wouldn’t go quite as far to call it Tommy John surgery, only because there are several different types and the Rangers’ team surgeon, Dr. Keith Meister, would determine which surgery to perform when it’s completed next week.
What is clear is that deGrom will be a spectator for the rest of this season, the first year of a five-year, $185 million deal he signed with the Rangers in the offseason.
Now he has to find other ways to help the Rangers, who have the best offense in baseball and the second-best record in the American League (39-20) going into Tuesday.
He made it clear he wants to be around the team while he rehabilitates the injury.
“I feel like I have a pretty good knowledge of how to pitch in this league,” deGrom said. “I won’t be able to be on the field, but if anybody has any questions or any way that I can help, the goal is to help any way you can.”
deGrom had hoped that helping would involve taking the ball every fifth day. He made the Opening Day start for the Rangers, and made six starts, going 2-0 with a 2.67 ERA. He struck out 45 batters and walked four in 30 1/3 innings.
When he was on the mound, he was as good as the Rangers could have hoped for. But he left in the fourth inning of a start against the New York Yankees on April 28 with what was later diagnosed as right elbow inflammation and put on the 15-day injured list.
deGrom threw at least four bullpen sessions during his rehab, the final one being last week before going home to Florida over the weekend for the birth of his child.
He didn’t pinpoint anything from the last bullpen, but he said that his recovery was definitely uneven.
“I would have days in which I would feel really good and then days when I wouldn’t feel great,” he said. “So I was kind of riding a roller coaster there for a little bit. I threw one bullpen and I was thinking, ‘I’m moving in the right direction,’ and then the next day I would come in and it didn’t feel great.”
The Rangers knew that deGrom had a recent injury history before they signed him in December. The two-time Cy Young winner with the New York Mets missed the second half of the 2021 season with right elbow inflammation. He missed the first four months last season with a stress reaction in his right scapula.
This won’t be the first time deGrom has had surgery on his UCL. He had a similar surgery that caused him to miss the entire 2011 season while in the Mets minor league system.
If there’s only one good thing about the situation, it’s clarity. Both deGrom and Young referenced that. The team knows the injury and a plan is in place. But it still stings.
“I went through this before and I know what it takes to get back,” deGrom said. “So I’ll rehab as best I can and be around to help in any way I can. We have a special group here.”
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