Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom got through three perfect innings against the Yankees Friday night in Arlington. He only needed 28 pitches to get the nine-up, nine-down, too. With two outs and two runners on in the fourth inning, however, there was a conference on the mound with an athletic trainer, pitching coach Mike Maddux and then manager Bruce Bochy before deGrom was removed from the game.
Given the game situation, it was immediately obvious that deGrom was being removed due to an apparent injury. Here's a video of deGrom being taken out, and around the 55-second mark it sure seems like Maddux says "forearm" to Bochy:
After the game, we got confirmation. Bochy told reporters that deGrom was removed from the game due to right forearm tightness (via Kennedi Landry) and that he'll be reevaluated Saturday.
deGrom, 34, was one of the best pitchers in baseball through about the midpoint of 2021 and he was also very durable. From the start of the 2017 season through July 7 of 2021, he didn't miss a start. He won two Cy Youngs in that span. Since then, however, he's had a litany of injury issues.
In 2021, there was a forearm issue that spawned an elbow injury (as is often the case). In 2022, there was a stress reaction in his shoulder and then earlier this season there was an injury to his left side.
As for the current injury, we'll hold out hope that it's a minor thing. It needs to be said, however, that an awful lot of the time a pitcher needs Tommy John surgery, the initial word was forearm tightness. This isn't to say that's the direction deGrom is heading at all. It is to say there's legitimate concern that this is a serious injury.
Through 30 1/3 innings this season, deGrom has a 2.67 ERA, 0.76 WHIP and 45 strikeouts against just four walks. Since the beginning of the 2018 season, he's got a 2.09 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and 921 strikeouts in 675 2/3 innings. More succinctly, he's totally dominant when he's able to take the ball. It's just that the latter part of that statement has been a problem these last three seasons.
deGrom signed a five-year, $185 million contract with the Rangers this past offseason after spending the first nine MLB seasons of his career with the Mets.
