Jacob deGrom’s injury woes continue after inking $185 million deal

The injury bug as hit Jacob deGrom once again.

The Texas Rangers ace has been placed on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation.

DeGrom left his start against the New York Yankees Friday night with a trainer after just 3⅔ innings. It was regarded as forearm tightness, which is never a good sign. 

The Rangers inked deGrom to a high-risk, high-reward deal in the offseason.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner missed a majority of his final two seasons with the New York Mets with several different arm injuries. And when deGrom opted out of the final year of his deal, the Rangers were quick to sign him to a five-year, $185 million deal.

DeGrom had one of the greatest starts to a career in MLB history. From his MLB debut through his injury-shortened 2021 campaign, he had a 2.50 ERA. From 2018 to 2021, he was dominant.

In 91 starts during that span, his ERA was a miniscule 1.94. He earned back-to-back Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019, finished in third in 2020, and despite just 15 starts in 2021, finished in ninth with his 1.08 ERA that season. His 5.38 K/BB ratio is the best in major league history, and his 0.99 WHIP is the lowest among active starting pitchers.

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DeGrom, Clayton Kershaw and Greg Maddux are the only pitchers in MLB history to have a 1.95 ERA or less in a 100-start span. The only pitchers with an 80-start stretch of an ERA under 2.00 and 500-plus strikeouts are deGrom, Kershaw, Hal Newhouser, Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax and Pedro Martinez.

However, in 2021 and 2022 combined, deGrom made just 26 starts, and he is on the shelf once again with a pitcher’s worst nightmare of an injury.

DeGrom has a 2.67 ERA, an AL-best 13.4 K/9 and an MLB-best 1.63 FIP. In his first start, he allowed five earned runs in 3⅔ innings, but since then, he allowed just four earned in 26.2 innings (1.35 ERA).