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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom has already stepped off the mound this offseason, saying everything felt normal after missing most of his first two seasons with the Texas Rangers because of elbow surgery .
The three starts deGrom made last September were significant for him.
“That way I was able to treat it like a normal offseason and not feel like I was in rehab mode the whole time,” he said Saturday during the team’s annual fan fest. “So that’s been this offseason, you know, normal throwing. I’m already off the hill and everything feels good.”
The 36-year-old right-hander said he would normally wait until Feb. 1 before throwing, but he started earlier this week so he could build up a bit more slowly before spring training.
DeGrom has started just nine games for the Rangers since signing a five-year, $185 million contract in free agency two winters ago. They won all six starts he made before the end of April in his pre-surgery debut with the team in 2023. After rehabilitating for most of last year, he was 3-0 with a 1.69 ERA and 14 strikeouts over 10 2/3 innings in those three September starts.
“One of the things I’m most looking forward to is a healthy season from Jacob and for our fans to be able to see what that looks like and how good he is,” Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young said. “It’s just electric, and coming into the stadium every day he pitches and knowing we have a great chance to win the game is an exciting feeling. Our fans have never experienced anything like this over the course of a season. We’re excited and hope they get to see that this year.”
Since his back-to-back Cy Young Awards with the New York Mets in 2018 and 2019, deGrom hasn’t made more than 15 starts in a season. He started 12 times during the 2020 season shortened to 60 games by COVID-19.
DeGrom had a career-low 1.08 ERA over 92 innings in 2021 before missing the final three months with right forearm strain and a sprained elbow and then being shut down late in 2022 spring training because of a stress reaction in his right shoulder blade. Over the final two months of that season, he went 5-4 with a 3.08 ERA in 11 starts before becoming a free agent.
His fastball reached 98 mph in the last of his three starts last season, when he pitched four innings of one-run ball against the Los Angeles Angels.
“You know, in these games it’s still a thought in the back of your mind that you’ve just come back from major surgery and at my age you probably won’t have another surgery,” he said. “So it was, hey, is everything good? And then, like I said, in the offseason I was able to check off those boxes and treat it normally.”
Now deGrom feels like he can start pitching again without having to worry about injuries.
“Just throw the ball to the target and don’t think about anything,” he said. “So, yeah, I think I can go back to where I was.”
