Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training this week, including Texas Rangers offseason acquisition Jacob deGrom.
Baseball fans in the Lone Star State have already been hit with some potentially concerning news Wednesday morning regarding their new ace.
Though the move to play it safe with deGrom is apparently precautionary, it’s still notable considering the two-time NL Cy Young award winner is one of the most injury-prone starting pitchers in MLB. After spending the first nine seasons of his career in Queens, deGrom joined the Rangers on a five-year deal in early December.
The four-time All-Star showed last year that he’s still among the best hurlers in baseball when healthy, but his ability to stay on the field has been a chronic issue, especially in the last two seasons. deGrom’s been limited to 156 1/3 innings pitched and 26 starts over the 2021 and 2022 campaigns combined.
Behind deGrom in Texas’ projected starting rotation are fellow newcomers Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney, 2022 All-Star Martin Perez and Jon Gray, among others.
