Texas Rangers Ace Jacob deGrom Undergoes Elbow Surgery

Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Monday that Jacob deGrom had successful surgery on his right UCL.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy announced Monday that pitcher Jacob deGrom had successful surgery on the torn UCL in his right elbow.

“He has surgery this morning," Bochy said. “It went well. He’s going great.”

General manager Chris Young announced last week that deGrom would miss the remainder of the 2023 season, but stopped short of calling the surgery Tommy John. The MRI exam performed after deGrom returned from a weekend trip to Florida for the birth of his child revealed the damage.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner is in the first year of a five-year, $185 million deal signed in the offseason. The expectation is that he will also miss at least part of the 2024 season. The rehab could last between 12-18 months. 

This isn’t 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 New York Mets minor league system.

Expected to be the ace of the Rangers staff, deGrom made just six starts for the Rangers, going 2-0 with a 2.67 ERA in 30 1/3 innings. He struck out 45 batters and walked four.

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 the Rangers later called right elbow inflammation and went on the 15-day injured list.

deGrom threw at several bullpen sessions over the next month before the additional tests showed more damage.

The Rangers understand the injury history before signing deGrom to the largest contract awarded to the pitcher in franchise history. While with the Mets, he missed the second half of the 2021 season with right elbow inflammation. He missed the first four months of the 2022 season with a stress reaction in his right scapula.

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