Inside The Rangers

Texas Rangers Star Ace Shows Concerning Velocity Dip in Spring Training Start

The Texas Rangers superstar ace may look very different than he used to this season.

Michael Brauner

Sep 27, 2024; Anaheim, California, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) throws against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning at Angel Stadium.
Sep 27, 2024; Anaheim, California, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) throws against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning at Angel Stadium. / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
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The Texas Rangers have dealt with several major injuries to the starting rotation over the last several weeks as they sit now just one week away from Opening Day.

With the losses of guys like Jon Gray and Cody Bradford for the foreseeable future, the Rangers find themselves in a tough spot after injuries and inconsistency from the staff as a whole caused the team to miss the playoffs in 2024 just a year after winning their first-ever World Series title.

One player who is making his return from injuries over the last two seasons - right-hander Jacob deGrom - after signing a huge contract to be the team's ace and has made just a total of nine starts for Texas.

The hope entering the season is deGrom is now fully healthy and ready to go after throwing just 10.2 innings last season and flashing the potential with a 1.69 ERA. Making his second start of the spring in the Cactus League on Wednesday, the two-time National League Cy Young winner had a day which was supremely average.

Over four innings pitched, deGrom gave up two earned runs and walked two batters while also striking out three. Getting up to 57 pitches was a positive, but the most noticeable aspect of his outing was the stark drop in average fastball velocity.

This came on the heels of a debut this spring in which he threw two perfect innings. Over the total of six innings now, the righty has an ERA of 3.00 with a WHIP of 1.00 and six total strikeouts.

deGrom said he was dialing it back this year in an effort to stay healthy though the 95.5 average mark which was a full two mph slower than the average over his 10.2 innings in 2024 is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser.

Nonetheless, the ace - noted for being a complete perfectionist who is his own harshest critic - did not show much concern as he graded the start after the fact.

"I could let it go more," he said of the dip via Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. "It’s just that a day like today, especially when I’m flying open, then you got to be smart with that. You want to land properly and then let it go. I was trying to govern it [the velocity], and see if I could locate it this way. I wasn’t locating any of them really well. Like I said, I’ve got a bullpen and then another game and we’ll figure it out."

With the season now so close, it's clear deGrom is working on some things after a day when he did not have his best stuff, but he is clearly getting closer and closer to becoming the old version - or at least as close as possible - of himself.

Telling media that he feels good health wise and simply has some things to tune up in order to sharpen up his lethal arsenal just before the season should have fans feeling positively.

If deGrom could come out this season and get back to being the kind of pitcher the Rangers thought they were getting when they gave him a five-year deal worth $185 million, it would go a long way towards not only making up for the injuries Texas has already suffered, but also bringing the staff as a whole to new heights.

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Michael Brauner
MICHAEL BRAUNER

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