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Jacob deGrom

Texas Notes: deGrom, Scherzer, Tucker, Verlander

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While the Rangers have gone 7-0 so far through the postseason, ace right-hander Jacob deGrom has been forced to watch his club’s success from home after undergoing Tommy John surgery back in June. The long time Mets righty sat down with Joel Sherman of the New York Post recently to discuss his recovery process four months removed from the surgery.

Fortunately, it appears that deGrom’s rehab process is going rather well. A typical timeline for a pitcher in deGrom’s situation would be somewhere between 14 and 18 months before returning to a big league mound but deGrom expressed optimism that he could return to the Rangers at the earlier end of that window, with August 2024 as a stated goal. Of course, there’s a long road ahead to reach that point, though Sherman notes that deGrom has regained full range of motion at this point and will be able to return to throwing shortly after the new year, with a mound in sight come Spring Training.

If deGrom is indeed healthy and effective come the stretch run in 2024, he’d surely provide a massive boost to a Rangers club that dominated for much of the 2023 regular season and has seemingly found a second wind during the postseason in spite of a difficult stretch run that saw the club slow to a 38-33 record in the second half this season. Ignoring any possible offseason additions, deGrom would return to a 2024 rotation group that projects to feature former Mets co-ace Max Scherzer, veterans Nathan Eovaldi and Jon Gray, southpaw Andrew Heaney, and right-hander Dane Dunning. When on the mound for the Rangers this year, deGrom was nothing short of excellent with a 2.67 ERA and 1.54 FIP across six starts. His current contract runs through the end of the 2027 season, with a 2028 club option that triggered as a result of him undergoing Tommy John surgery earlier this year.

More from around the state of Texas…

  • Sticking with the Rangers, manager Bruce Bochy spoke to reporters this afternoon regarding tomorrow’s Game 3 of the ALCS, where Scherzer is expected to take the mound in a competitive setting for the first time in over a month due to a teres major strain. While Bochy didn’t specify whether or not Scherzer would have any sort of limitations on him headed into tomorrow’s game, Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic relayed that Bochy referred to 70 pitches as a “baseline” for Scherzer. That’s in line with his previously reported 68-pitch simulated game prior to the ALCS. If Scherzer is indeed limited in some capacity during tomorrow’s game, the Rangers have plenty of long relief options available to them, including Cody Bradford and Martin Perez.
  • Meanwhile, Astros manager Dusty Baker spoke to reporters (including The Athletic’s Chandler Rome) this afternoon regarding the club’s plans for the remainder of the ALCS, in which they trail their division rival 0-2. Baker noted that he’s spoken to outfielder Kyle Tucker about a potential move down the batting order, though he emphasized that such a move would be temporary. It’s been a rough postseason for Tucker, as the 26-year-old has gone hitless in the ALCS so far after slashing just .143/.294/.214 in 17 trips to the plate against the Twins during the ALDS. Baker did not, however, indicate whether or not the club is considering turning to veteran ace and future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander on short rest for Game 4, saying that the club hasn’t discussed the possibility yet. Verlander would be on three days of rest for Game 4, a situation in which the Astros have used him in the playoffs before. As Rome notes, Verlander struggled against the Rays in Game 4 of the ALDS back in 2019 on three days of rest, allowing four runs in 3 2/3 innings of work.

MLBTR Trade Rumors Podcast: Elly De La Cruz, Manoah’s Demotion and Surgery for DeGrom

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Episode 10 of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

Plus, we answer your questions, including:

  • If Kevin Kiermaier can stay healthy and remain productive, what kind of contract is he looking at in free agency? (22:20)
  • Could Corbin Burnes realistically be traded by the deadline? If so, what teams would likely make a push for him? (26:50)
  • What could the Cubs do with Marcus Stroman? (30:45)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The Wide-Open NL Wild Card Race, Returning Pitchers and Cast-Off Veterans – listen here
  • The Mets are turning things around, and how serious are the Mariners, Marlins and Diamondbacks? – listen here
  • The Cardinals’ U-Turn on Willson Contreras, Mitch Keller’s breakout, and the state of the Padres – listen here

Jacob deGrom To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Grant clarifies in a second tweet that the full extent of the surgery will be determined once the surgery begins. That leaves open the possibility of the internal brace procedure, which is slightly less severe in nature, but the righty is looking at an absence of at least a year either way.

The news is obviously terrible news for deGrom, the Rangers and the baseball world at large. deGrom, who turns 35 later this month, had established himself as arguably the best pitcher alive with the Mets in his career. From 2014 to 2020, he tossed 1169 2/3 innings with a 2.61 ERA, 29.2% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate and 45.1% ground ball rate. He won back-to-back Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019, tossing over 200 innings in each campaign with a 1.70 ERA in the former and a 2.43 mark in the latter.

The narrative since that time, however, has been dominating by concerns around his health. In 2021, he had a miniscule 1.08 ERA through 15 starts but landed on the injured list due to some forearm tightness. There seemed to be some disagreement about the nature of his injury, as Mets president Sandy Alderson said that deGrom had been dealing with a low-grade tear in the UCL in his pitching elbow, though deGrom insisted his ligament was “perfectly fine.”

That was a concerning set of statements in its own right, but especially so considering that deGrom had previously undergone TJS as a prospect. He didn’t return at any point in that 2021 season but seemed to be healthy coming into 2022. He then suffered a stress reaction in his scapula during Spring Training and missed more time but was eventually able to return in August of last year. He made 11 starts for the Mets down the stretch and another in the postseason, finishing the season healthy. He had a 3.08 ERA in those regular season starts, striking out 42.7% of opponents against a walk rate of just 3.3%.

deGrom still had one year and $30.5MM remaining on his contract, as well as a club option for 2024, but had long maintained that he intended to trigger his opt-out and test free agency. He did just that and eventually landed a five-year, $185MM deal with the Rangers. He made six starts for the club here in 2023 with a 2.67 ERA but landed on the injured list at the end of April due to elbow inflammation. He was transferred to the 60-day IL yesterday, which didn’t necessarily portend doom since he had already been out of action for over a month. But now the full truth has been revealed and it was an ominous sign after all.

The Rangers are off to a great start here this year, currently 39-20 and leading the American League West. Still, they were undoubtedly hoping to have deGrom’s elite skills back on the roster for a late-season playoff race and theoretical postseason appearance. But they will now have to proceed without him in those plans. Currently, the rotation consists of Martín Pérez, Andrew Heaney, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray and Dane Dunning. Today’s likely increases the chances that they look for rotation upgrades this summer, though their ultimate appetite for a move like that will depend on the health and performance of the remaining members.

For deGrom, this news will have an impact on his contract, specifically related to the conditional option for 2028. The contract states that, if he undergoes Tommy John surgery or has an elbow or shoulder injury that leads to an absence of 130 days in a single season or a full calendar year absence over multiple seasons, a club option will kick in. It’s valued at $20MM but could jump to $30MM if deGrom has a top five finish in Cy Young voting at any point or tallies 625 innings over the course of the deal. It would go up to $37MM if he gets in the top five of Cy Young voting three times or gets to 725 frames. If he didn’t have a significant injury, he could have vested that $37MM figure by tossing just 160 innings in 2027 and getting a top five finish in Cy Young voting that year.

Now the major question for deGrom will be how he bounces back in 2024 and beyond. Coming back from a Tommy John surgery and succeeding isn’t unprecedented, even for a relatively older pitcher like deGrom. Just last year, Justin Verlander came back from the procedure and had Cy Young-winning season for the Astros at the age of 39. deGrom will be turning 35 in about two weeks and will therefore be about 36 when he’s attempting to come back. That makes him a couple of years younger than Verlander was but it’s not exactly the same situation since that was Verlander’s first TJS and this will be a second for deGrom, which tends to have a lower success rate at returning pitchers to their previous states.

In time, more information will surely be forthcoming about deGrom’s progress and how the Rangers plan to proceed without him. But the unavoidable fact of today is that one of the best pitchers in baseball will be out of action for at least a year and possibly even longer.

Rangers Transfer Jacob deGrom To 60-Day Injured List

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The Rangers announced a series of roster moves today, reinstating right-hander Spencer Howard from the 60-day injured list. He will take the active roster spot of right-hander Jonathan Hernández, who has been optioned to Triple-A Round Rock. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, righty Jacob deGrom was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

At this point, it’s unclear if anything has meaningfully changed in deGrom’s timeline. He has already been on the injured list since April 29 due to inflammation in his throwing elbow and had yet to begin a rehab assignment. Today’s transfer officially rules him out until 60 days from that initial IL placement, meaning he could be reinstated as soon as June 28. Even if he were cleared to start ramping up his pitch count tomorrow, he likely would have needed a few weeks to get back to a full starter’s workload anyway. It’s possible that this is merely a procedural move and that his health status hasn’t changed. If there has been some kind of setback, that information has yet to be publicly revealed. He will have a follow-up MRI this week, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.

Health has been the major question mark surrounding deGrom in recent years. Arguably the best pitcher on the planet when healthy, it’s been quite some time since he remained on the mound for an extended period of time. He logged over 200 innings in each season from 2017 to 2019, but then the pandemic-shortened 2020 season kept him to just 68 frames. In 2021, he went on the injured list with forearm tightness in July of 2021 and never returned. He then missed the start of 2022 due to a stress reaction in his shoulder blade, returning in August after missing over a year of action.

He was still excellent when on the mound, posting a tiny 2.05 ERA over that 2020 to 2022 stretch, striking out 42.4% of opponents against a 4.5% walk rate. The pandemic was obviously unrelated, but it nonetheless combined with the injuries to limit him to 224 1/3 innings over those three years. The Rangers made a bet on him by signing him to a five-year, $185MM deal this winter. He made six starts for his new club with a 2.67 ERA but has been on the shelf since then with an uncertain outlook.

Howard, 26, has been on the injured list all year after suffering a lat strain during the spring. He recently began a rehab assignment and pitched two scoreless relief outings. Howard had the #27 slot on Baseball America’s top 100 list in both 2020 and 2021 while with the Phillies. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to put it all together in the big leagues just yet. Coming over to the Rangers in a 2021 deadline deal, he has 111 1/2 major league innings between the two clubs with a 7.09 ERA.

The righty had a chance to establish himself as a future rotation building block last year, as he was one of several younger hurlers given a shot in the Texas rotation. Unfortunately, he spent much of the year either in the minors or on the injured list, only tossing 37 2/3 innings in the majors with a 7.41 ERA. The club then totally revamped their rotation this winter by re-signing Martín Pérez and acquiring deGrom, Andrew Heaney, Nathan Eovaldi and Jake Odorizzi to slot alongside incumbent Jon Gray.

Odorizzi is done for the year due to a shoulder procedure and deGrom is obviously not an option for a while, but it still seems as though Howard has been pushed out of the rotation mix, at least for now. His recent rehab assignment could have been as long as 30 days and allowed him to get stretched out but he’s instead been reinstated after just a couple of short outings. That doesn’t mean the book has totally closed on him being a starter but he is in his final option year. With the Rangers’ bullpen having posted a collective 4.47 ERA on the season, perhaps they would like to take some time to see if he can be of use to them in a relief capacity.

One of the struggling members of the relief corps has been Hernández. He posted a solid 2.90 ERA in 2020 but required Tommy John surgery in April of 2021, wiping out that entire season. He returned last year and was able to make 29 appearances with a 2.97 ERA. Unfortunately, his results have taken a big dip here in 2023, as he currently has a 6.65 ERA through 25 outings.

The remaining months of the season will be important for the righty as he has just one option year left, meaning he’ll be out of options next year as long as he spends at least 20 days in the minors this season. His trajectory for free agency could also potentially be impacted as he came into this campaign with three years and 41 days of service time. Spending roughly a couple of months in the minors would prevent him from getting to the four-year mark this season and delay his free agency by a year. He could also wind up as a non-tender candidate if he’s out of options and his results don’t improve.

West Notes: Urias, deGrom, Bogaerts

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Dodgers lefty Julio Urias was expected to throw a bullpen session off the mound for the first time since going on the injured list with a hamstring strain last week, but the 26-year-old lefty felt some soreness after working out yesterday and threw off flat ground instead, as noted by The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya. Ardaya notes that the planned bullpen session has been moved to Tuesday, and that the next step afterwards would be to face live hitters.

Urias’s setback opens the door for young right-hander Bobby Miller to make another start after the 24-year-old top prospect threw five innings of one-run ball against a tough Braves lineup in his MLB debut earlier this week. With Miller looking effective, there’s plenty of reason for the Dodgers to proceed cautiously with their staff ace as he works his way back from his current hamstring ailment. Urias entered the 2023 campaign with a career ERA of just 2.82 (148 ERA+), but his platform season before he’s slated to test free agency in the offseason hasn’t gotten off on the same dominant foot as usual. Through ten starts this season, Urias has posted a surprisingly pedestrian 4.39 ERA (101 ERA+) with a worrisome 5.31 FIP. That season line is weighed down by a final brutal stretch of six starts immediately preceding Urias’s placement on the IL, where he posted a 6.25 ERA and 6.86 FIP in 31 2/3 innings of work.

More from around MLB’s West divisions…

  • Rangers ace Jacob deGrom has been on the injured list with elbow inflammation for a month now, as the club has taken their oft-injured ace’s ramp-up back to game action slowly. After throwing a 25-pitch, fastball-only bullpen session last week, deGrom progressed to a 31-pitch bullpen session yesterday per MLB.com, during which he began to mix in sliders and change-ups. Manager Bruce Bochy noted that deGrom will be evaluated over the coming days as he recovers from the session while the club attempts to establish a clearer timeline for his return. As arguably the best pitcher in the world when healthy it’s hard to overstate the value deGrom, who has posted a 2.67 ERA and 1.57 FIP in his first six starts as a member of the Rangers, has for the club. Nonetheless, Texas has been able to excel even without their ace thanks to excellent performances from Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, and Martin Perez.
  • Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts is out of the lineup today while the 30-year-old star deals with discomfort in his wrist. As noted by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the issue is in the same wrist that required a cortisone shot during spring training. Acee notes that it’s still too soon for Bogaerts to receive another shot, so the shortstop has opted to instead play through the discomfort on and off throughout the season. The discomfort could help to explain Bogaerts’s struggles this past month, as he has slashed just .195/.290/.268 in 21 games so far in May. Acee notes that the hope is that Bogaerts will be able to return to the lineup tomorrow, but the situation appears to be day-to-day.

Injury Notes: Quintana, Lugo, deGrom, Battenfield, Lee

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The Mets have been without offseason pickup José Quintana all season thanks to a Spring Training rib issue that required surgery. The veteran southpaw got positive news this afternoon though. After receiving good results on a recent CT scan, Quintana told reporters he’s set to begin throwing off a mound for the first time since March (relayed by Tim Healey of Newsday).

Quintana is in for an extended rehab process. He’ll need to build up arm strength and progress to throwing live batting practice sessions before a minor league rehab stint that’s sure to encompass multiple starts. During the spring, the Mets provided a July estimate for Quintana’s return to major league action. There’s no indication that timetable has changed, but it’s a positive development his recovery is going as anticipated.

New York has had one of the least productive rotations thus far. They entered play Friday with a 5.29 rotation ERA that ranks 25th leaguewide. That should improve with Justin Verlander back from an early-season injured list stint and Max Scherzer unlikely to carry a 4.88 ERA all season. Still, with Carlos Carrasco allowing nearly an earned run per inning and underwhelming work from depth starters David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Joey Lucchesi, the Mets could certainly use some stability from Quintana in the second half.

The latest on some other health situations around the game:

  • The Padres placed starter Seth Lugo on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 17, due to a right calf strain. Southpaw Ryan Weathers was recalled from Triple-A El Paso to replace him in the rotation. Signed to a two-year free agent guarantee, Lugo has made eight starts in his move back to the rotation from relief. He’s acquitted himself reasonably well, posting a 4.10 ERA with a roughly league average 21.3% strikeout rate across 41 2/3 innings. The 33-year-old righty is looking to reestablish himself as a starter and could retest the market next winter. His $15MM contract allows him to opt out of the final year and $7.5MM at season’s end.
  • Jacob deGrom threw a 25-pitch bullpen session this afternoon, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. It has been three weeks since the two-time Cy Young winner hit the injured list with elbow inflammation. deGrom told Grant and other reporters he came out of the session feeling good, opining he’s “turned a corner” in his ramp-up. Rangers skipper Bruce Bochy indicated on May 9 the club felt deGrom was two to three weeks from a return to a big league mound. While it doesn’t seem he’ll be back within the next few days, all indications are the issue isn’t as alarming as it first seemed given deGrom’s health history. Last offseason’s big-ticket free agent addition has a 2.67 ERA with an elite 39.1% strikeout percentage in his first 30 1/3 innings in a Ranger uniform.
  • The Guardians put starter Peyton Battenfield on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 18, with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. The rookie righty has been a member of Cleveland’s rotation since being called up in mid-April. He’s started six of seven appearances but struggled to a 5.19 ERA through 34 2/3 innings. The Oklahoma State product has a modest 18.5% strikeout rate and has given up seven home runs. He spent virtually all of last season with Triple-A Columbus, working to a 3.63 ERA over 28 starts. Battenfield’s next turn through the rotation was scheduled for Monday, so the Guardians will need to settle on a replacement for that series opener against the White Sox.
  • The Braves placed reliever Dylan Lee on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 17, on account of shoulder inflammation. Fellow southpaw Lucas Luetge was activated from an IL stint of his own in a corresponding move. Lee was somewhat quietly among the best relievers in the game last season, when he worked to a 2.13 ERA while striking out 29.4% of batters faced in 50 1/3 innings. He’s not been quite at that pace this year but still carries a solid 3.10 ERA and 27.1% strikeout percentage in 20 appearances. Luetge, acquired in an offseason trade with the Yankees, has made just five appearances with his new team thus far thanks to a bout of biceps inflammation.

Latest On Jacob deGrom

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The Rangers placed Jacob deGrom on the injured list on April 29 with inflammation in his throwing elbow. The two-time Cy Young winner had left his previous start early with some forearm discomfort, the second time this season he’d been forced to depart an outing for health reasons.

While deGrom is technically able to return to action this weekend, he won’t be reinstated when first eligible. Manager Bruce Bochy estimated this evening the four-time All-Star could be two to three weeks away (relayed by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). According to Grant, deGrom will meet with team physicians next Monday to determine whether he can start to ramp up the intensity.

The Rangers are understandably going to be cautious with deGrom’s arm health. He’s battled forearm and shoulder issues over the past couple years, resulting in an extended chunk of missed action between 2021-22. deGrom returned at peak form in last year’s second half and the Rangers made him the highest-paid pitcher of the offseason, inking him to a five-year, $185MM guarantee.

Through his first six starts in a Texas uniform, the star hurler has tossed 30 1/3 innings of 2.67 ERA ball. Among pitchers with 30+ frames, only Spencer Strider has a superior strikeout rate to deGrom’s 39.1% clip. It’s exactly the kind of rate production for which general manager Chris Young and his front office had hoped, though the longstanding question has been how many innings they can expect deGrom to shoulder.

With deGrom out, Dane Dunning has stepped into the final rotation spot. Dunning was a solid back-of-the-rotation arm for Texas between 2021-22 and threw five scoreless innings against the Angels last week. He’s a capable fill-in, though his move to the rotation puts added pressure on a bullpen that has been shaky of late. Dunning was arguably Texas’ best reliever for the first month, tossing 20 1/3 frames of 1.77 ERA ball.

Rangers Place Jacob deGrom On 15-Day IL Due To Elbow Inflammation

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The Rangers announced that right-hander Jacob deGrom has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his throwing elbow.  The move comes a day after deGrom was removed early from his start against the Yankees due to what was initially termed as forearm tightness.  In the corresponding move, Texas called up right-hander Yerry Rodriguez from Triple-A to take deGrom’s spot on the active roster.

Manager Bruce Bochy told reporters yesterday that removing deGrom was “just a precaution,” and GM Chris Young told reporters (including Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News) that an MRI revealed the inflammation.  “Given how important he is to us and our season, we’re going to play this very cautiously and see how he responds over the next several days of treatment, and then 7-10 days we’ll have a pretty good idea of what the next steps are,” Young said.

DeGrom also made an early exit from a start two weeks ago due to wrist soreness, this IL visit might be something more of an overall maintenance pause to let deGrom entirely heal up.  That said, it certainly isn’t good to see deGrom back on the IL, particularly with any sort of elbow/forearm issue.  The right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery over a decade ago, and he missed the second half of the 2021 season recovering from forearm tightness.  Between that abbreviated 2021 season and then a stress reaction in his shoulder blade prior to the start of the 2022 season, deGrom missed almost exactly a full year of action bridged over the 2021-22 campaigns.

Sandwiched around that long injury absence, deGrom still posted a 1.90 ERA over 156 1/3 innings in 2021-22, continuing to show that he is one of baseball’s very best pitchers when healthy.  Even with health concerns clouding his last two seasons, deGrom still opted out of the $30.5MM remaining on his contract with the Mets in order to chase a larger free agent deal this past winter.  The bet paid off handsomely for the 34-year-old, who landed a five-year, $185MM contract from the Rangers.

That deal contains a conditional option for the 2028 season that is relevant given the nature of deGrom’s current IL stint.  The option becomes a club option if deGrom undergoes a TJ surgery or is on the IL for any elbow or shoulder-related injury for either 130 consecutive days in a given season, or for 186 consecutive days bridging multiple season.  (The price of that club option ranges from $20MM to as much as $37MM if deGrom hits certain innings thresholds and finishes in Cy Young Award voting over the life of the contract.)  If deGrom avoids these injury benchmarks, passes a physical after the 2027 season, tossed at least 160 innings that season, and has a top-five finish in Cy Young voting in 2027, the option becomes a $37MM player option.

As noted, there isn’t yet any indication that deGrom’s injury is serious, or anything that might even sideline him beyond the 15-day minimum.  Still, it is a little ominous that an elbow problem that sent deGrom to the IL within his first month in a Rangers uniform, and the club can only hope that this injury is just a bump in the road.

Over his first six games with Texas, deGrom has continued to perform like an ace, posting a 2.67 ERA over 30 1/3 innings with elite Statcast metrics almost across the board.  The Rangers are a perfect 6-0 in deGrom’s starts, which is a big reason why Texas is sitting in first place in the AL West after a 15-11 start.

Texas has off-days on both Monday and Thursday, giving the team some flexibility in how it will reset the rotation with deGrom out.  Young indicated that Dane Dunning is the likeliest candidate to step into the starting five, and Rodriguez’s promotion is perhaps a hint that the Rangers will indeed move Dunning back into the rotation.  Dunning was a regular starter for the Rangers in 2021-22 before the team’s offseason pitching acquisitions pushed him into a relief role.  Despite a very low 13.9% strikeout rate, Dunning has fared well in the bullpen, posting a 1.77 ERA and 50.8% grounder rate over 20 1/3 relief innings.

Jacob deGrom Leaves Start Early With Forearm Tightness

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April 29: The Rangers don’t yet have an update on deGrom, but manager Bruce Bochy expects they’ll know more before tonight’s match against the Yankees, per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com.

April 28: The Rangers removed Jacob deGrom in the fourth inning of tonight’s matchup against the Yankees. Manager Bruce Bochy told reporters postgame that deGrom had experienced some forearm tightness but called the removal a “precautionary” measure (relayed by Kennedi Landry of MLB.com). He’ll be reevaluated tomorrow.

It’s the second time this year in which deGrom has left a start early. He experienced some wrist soreness during an appearance against the Royals a couple weeks back. deGrom maintained at the time he’d make his next start and he did just that. Any mention of forearm discomfort is more alarming than wrist soreness, though, considering that forearm tightness can be a precursor to ligament issues in the elbow.

deGrom’s recent injury history was the primary question when he hit free agency for the first time last offseason. There was no doubt of his brilliance but health concerns kept him off the mound for over a full calendar year between 2021-22. deGrom left a few starts early during the 2021 campaign before a midsummer forearm issue that wound up cutting his season short. Forearm tightness sent him to the injured list around the All-Star Break that year; then-Mets’ president Sandy Alderson later said deGrom had been dealing with a low-grade tear in his UCL, an eyebrow-raising assertion considering the right-hander had undergone Tommy John surgery before making his MLB debut. The pitcher refuted that, calling his ligament “perfectly fine.”

While he returned from that forearm issue to start 2022, he was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his scapula (shoulder blade) the following spring. That prevented him from making his season debut until August. Once he returned to the mound, he was effective as ever, striking out a laughable 42.4% of opposing hitters over 11 starts.

Texas made deGrom the centerpiece of a pitching-heavy offseason, inking him to a five-year, $185MM deal. The Rangers have gotten exactly what they’d hoped for from the two-time Cy Young winner when he’s been on the mound. After today’s appearance, he’s up to 30 1/3 innings of 2.67 ERA ball. deGrom has punched out an elite 39.1% of batters faced while walking just 3.5% of opponents.

The Rangers’ revamped rotation entered play tonight with a 3.82 ERA, the ninth-lowest mark in the majors. deGrom and Martín Pérez have been excellent. Nathan Eovaldi has quality strikeout and walk numbers but a middling ERA, while the opposite is true of Jon Gray. Andrew Heaney has a strong strikeout rate but been a little homer-prone through his first few starts.

Jacob deGrom Removed From Start With Wrist Soreness, Hopes To Make Next Start

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9:16pm: deGrom met with the media after the game and downplayed the issue (relayed by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News and Jeff Wilson). He’ll be reevaluated tomorrow but indicated he didn’t feel it was a series problem. deGrom said he hopes to make his next scheduled start.

8:05pm: Jacob deGrom was removed from tonight’s start in Kansas City after four no-hit innings. The Rangers later called it a precautionary decision after the superstar experienced right wrist soreness.

Texas added that deGrom will go for continued evaluation. It’s obviously too early to draw any conclusions about the issue’s severity. That the Rangers specified the removal as precautionary is a welcome development, though any arm-related issue is at least a bit concerning considering deGrom’s history. The righty was limited to 26 combined appearances during his final two seasons as a Met. Shut down midway through the 2021 season with a forearm issue, he missed the first half of last year on account of a stress reaction in his right scapula.

On the optimistic side, deGrom didn’t look any worse for wear during tonight’s appearance. He retired 12 of 14 batters, only walking one and seeing another hitter reach on an error. His final pitch of the night was a 97.9 MPH fastball that turned into a Kyle Isbel fly ball.

The Rangers are sure to provide more information in the next few days. deGrom is up to 20 2/3 innings of 3.48 ERA ball with a ridiculous 32:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in the first season of his five-year free agent deal. The Rangers have an off day on Thursday; if they stick with a five-man rotation, deGrom would next be lined up to pitch on Sunday against Oakland.

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