deGrom brings the heat in 1st rehab start since UCL surgery

Batters, beware: Jacob deGrom is back on the mound.

In his first professional appearance since April 28, 2023, the Rangers right-hander showed off his electric stuff for Double-A Frisco on Thursday. Making his first rehab outing since undergoing right UCL repair surgery last season, deGrom started for the RoughRiders and pitched the first two innings.

“You go through live BPs, that’s one thing, but having a game setting, getting out there, feeling good, that was the most important thing,” deGrom told the media in Frisco. “It felt really good. I know it’s still a work in progress, like the location, just left a couple fastballs up. Slider was good, changeup was good. It’s always a work in progress.

“Even when I’m fully healthy, I’m constantly working on things, so trying to eliminate misses over the heart of the plate. That’s going to take a little bit of time. Hopefully, I can get that ironed out here and make better pitches when I’m back with the [Rangers].”

After giving up a run on back-to-back hits to open the ballgame, deGrom settled down to strike out the next two batters. He fanned Romeo Sanabria on a fastball that was clocked at a reported 100 mph, then got Marcos Castañon to chase a slider down and away. deGrom struck out Joshua Mears on a slider to begin the second inning before getting two quick ground-ball outs to end the inning and cap off his day.

“I might have been a little amped up early on and left a couple in the middle, and they hit those. The one double and the single that drove in that run,” deGrom said. “That’s going to be part of this. You’re still trying to make the pitches you need to make. I could go out there and throw all sliders, and still have decent success, but I’m trying to throw everything.

“I threw a few changeups I probably wouldn’t throw just so I could throw them. I didn’t want to be just fastball-slider today.”

It was an important step for deGrom in the first of what manager Bruce Bochy previously estimated would be four rehab outings, with the right-hander set to throw more pitches with each passing appearance. A return to the Majors could happen around mid-September for deGrom, who made just six starts in his first season with the Rangers before his injury.

“Everything feels really good right now,” deGrom said. “We’ll see how it responds tomorrow.”

Though the Rangers are arguably out of contention at this point in the season, sitting 10 1/2 games behind the Astros in the AL West race entering Friday, it’s important for deGrom to return to the mound and get back to a regular schedule going into the offseason.

“If I don’t get out there, it’s going to feel like I’ve been rehabbing for this entire time, through a year and a half or whatever it's been,” deGrom said.

“He was amazing, right?” Bochy said prior to Friday’s series opener against the Guardians at Progressive Field. “With little effort, too. That's what's incredible, how well he's throwing the ball, and command and everything. I know he had to be excited, as long as he's been waiting to get back on the mound and compete.

“I don't care if he's in a Minor League game, I can tell you, the juices were going and adrenaline was going. It was a really, really good outing.”