'Starting To See The Light.' Recovering Texas Rangers Ace Jacob deGrom Planning On Pivotal Role Into Postseason

Texas Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom threw 45 pitches before Tuesday's game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. deGrom is a couple more bullpen sessions from advancing to a rehab assignment.

Stefan Stevenson/Texas Rangers On SI

ST. LOUIS — Jacob deGrom plans to play a pivotal role for the Texas Rangers in 2024.

On Tuesday at Busch Stadium, he took another big step in that direction.

The two-time Cy Young winner threw 45 pitches off the mound in a simulated bullpen before Tuesday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals. He threw three sets of 15 pitches, sitting down for eight minutes between each set to simulate a game situation.

He threw five changeups among fastballs in the first set. After eight warmups, he threw another 15-pitch set that included five sliders. The last set included three changeup and three sliders.

deGrom is expected to repeat the session on Friday or Saturday and then face hitters in the following session.

"I feel good. Arm feels good," deGrom said. "Just working out some location things. Now I'm starting to let them go a little bit. So during the whole bullpen [phase of the rehab], I'm figuring out that intensity and locating the baseball, but feeling good."

deGrom, who had Tommy John in June 2023, is slightly ahead of schedule in his recovery. He believes he's on track to return to the Rangers roster in 2024. If he remains on schedule, that could be by the end of August.

"I feel that way. That's the goal, to get back out there and help the team, to hopefully help us into the playoffs," he said. "The goal is to pitch this year. I don't want to say too much because I don't know when but yes, I plan to be out there."

This is deGrom's second recovery from Tommy John. He also had the surgery as a New York Mets prospect in October 2010. That experience brings some understanding on the rehab process for deGrom.

"We have to look at things and make sure we're being smart. I think I'm a little bit ahead of schedule. [Throwing] felt good the whole time, so we're going to continue to push forward and take it day by day, deGrom said. "I've been fortunate enough not to have any setbacks right now. So we'll try to keep it that way and do the work in between and try to stay on this schedule that I'm on."

Tuesday's session, however, was "definitely encouraging."

"There's a long process and I've been through one before, but this one, I'm ready to get back out there and help this team," he said. "It's long and now you're really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Jacob deGrom threw 45 pitches, three sets of 15 in the STL heat today.
He's confident he'll contribute in 2024. pic.twitter.com/KnBpBVeWOk

— Stefan Stevenson (@StefanVersusTex) July 30, 2024

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