15-Year MLB Veteran Explains Why Rangers Ace Might Stay Healthy for Entire Season

What changes has this veteran two-time NL Cy Young Award winner made to his game to stay healthy and return to dominance in the Texas Rangers rotation?

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The Texas Rangers pitching staff deserves a lot of credit for the team’s surge above .500 as they look for a victory Wednesday night against the New York Yankees. 

Two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom is set to start on the mound for the first time against the Yankees since 2018. 

It comes on the heels of deGrom’s duel against Houston Astros ace Hunter Brown, where the two made history with their efficient outings. deGrom bested Brown that night with eight shutout innings and only allowed five hits and one walk to seven strikeouts.

For deGrom, that efficiency is part of a concerted effort to become more reliable as he looks to stay healthy in his 2025 campaign.

What Has Jacob deGrom Done To Become More Durable?

During his tenure with the New York Mets, deGrom was one of the most dominant pitchers in recent memory, winning back-to-back NL Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019.

Injuries derailed his trajectory during his last few seasons as a Met.

In his time with the Rangers, deGrom landed on the injured list in April with elbow inflammation and was shut down in June when he underwent a second Tommy John surgery. 

He spent most of the 2024 season recovering and only pitched 10.2 innings. 

Through May 21, deGrom has already logged more innings this season, with 50.1, than in the last two combined. 

Wednesday will mark his 10th start, and he has yet to miss a turn in the rotation.

One of deGrom’s former teammates provided insight as to why he’s been able to become more durable after years of unreliability.

"He's making a concerted effort to dial it back just enough. The reason why he can do this is because he has elite command."

Adam Ottavino breaks down what Jacob deGrom is doing to stay consistent and healthy this season. https://t.co/4InBHHrx6R pic.twitter.com/jT9kjSYB4r

— MLB Now (@MLBNow) May 21, 2025

Longtime pitcher Adam Ottavino joined a panel on the MLB Network and explained what deGrom has done to make that shift. 

“I think what he's doing right now is his attempt to be more reliable,” Ottavino said. “If you go back to 2020 through 2023, he ran a 41% whiff rate, which is outrageous. It's amazing. It's a spectacle. It's something nobody's ever seen. That obviously came along with a lot fewer actual innings. But if you go back to his actual Cy Young award-winning years, he ran a 31% whiff rate.”

Ottavino explained that a 10% drop in whiff rate usually means a guy is no longer in the big leagues. The difference with deGrom is his level of command, and dialing it back can actually work in his favor.

“Those are years that he won the Cy Young Award. That's exactly where he is at now, back to 31.4%. He's making a concerted effort to dial it back just enough. The reason why he can do this is because he has elite command.” 

The panel pulled up a slider graphic that showed his consistency in his last game against Houston. 

“He literally doesn't miss to his arm side,” Ottavino continued. “Everything's going outside to a righty or inside to a lefty. There's really nothing there that you're going to yield damage on. And here's the thing: for every inch that you move on your release point, it makes a foot of difference at the plate. So, the consistency of where his hand's coming through is superhuman. It's robotic. I laugh because 97 mph is reduced stuff for him, but that's how he's going to be able to maintain this ability that he has with ‘reduced stuff.’”

The difference in deGrom’s game this year is that he’s not chasing unnecessary velocity.

He averaged 98.9 mph on his four-seam fastball from 2021 to 2024.

His 97-mph fastball this season is his lowest since 2019—it’s still the fifth-fastest in baseball per MLB Now’s Brian Kenny.

Intriguingly, deGrom’s 26.6% strikeout rate is his lowest in nine years.

All in all, deGrom’s health this season alone is a success, and he’s posting numbers more in line with his dominance on the mound as he carries the third-lowest 2.29 ERA in the starting rotation into a Wednesday night showdown.