The Rangers placed Jacob deGrom on the 60-day injured list Monday to make room on the 40-man roster for right-hander Spencer Howard. He is eligible to return June 28.
The latest update on the Rangers ace would typically be met with doom and gloom if it were not for the club's red-hot start to the season, but it's obviously a concerning development for a team who suddenly has eyes on more than its first playoff berth since 2016.
DeGrom, who has been shelved since April 29, when the club placed him on the 15-day IL with inflammation in his right elbow, has only started six games this season after signing a $185 million, five-year contract with the Rangers this offseason.
When healthy, deGrom was stellar, pitching to a 2.67 ERA with 45 strikeouts and four walks across 30 1/3 innings. The club was undefeated in the six games he started.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said deGrom's bullpen session on May 31 went fine and that the club would discuss the next steps in his recovery when DeGrom returned from a trip home to Florida to be with his wife who gave birth to their third child.
DeGrom's issues began when he was removed from his fourth start of the season after just four innings pitched due to wrist soreness. He returned for his next start and struck out 11 batters and allowed one earned run over six innings in a win against Oakland. He was forced to exit his sixth start after just 3 2/3 innings.
DeGrom played his first nine big league seasons with the New York Mets. He was plagued by injuries the past two years, when he was limited to 156 1/3 innings over 26 starts.
Before missing the final three months of the 2021 season with right forearm tightness and a sprained elbow, deGrom had a career-low 1.08 ERA over 92 innings. He was then shut down late in spring training in 2022 year because of a stress reaction in his right scapula and didn’t make his first big-league start until Aug. 2.
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