'It's going to help us out big time': deGrom set for Friday return

PHOENIX -- Jacob deGrom’s long road back to a Major League mound has been highly anticipated, a journey that has kept the Rangers eagerly waiting throughout an arduous season.

That wait is about to come to an end.

deGrom is set to return from Tommy John on Friday in Seattle against the Mariners and make his first start since April 28, 2023. He underwent surgery in June of last year after making only six starts for Texas during its World Series championship season, cutting his debut campaign in Arlington short after signing a five-year, $185 million deal during the 2022 offseason.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner made four rehab starts before rejoining the club in Arizona along with Max Scherzer, who is also slated to return from the injured list and start on Saturday.

On top of welcoming back deGrom and Scherzer, Texas announced on Monday that Kumar Rocker, the club’s No. 2 overall prospect, will make his MLB debut on Thursday night.

“I’m very excited, it’s a fun week,” Rangers general manager Chris Young said. “Any time you get to debut one of your top prospects and you get two of the best pitchers in the game back, [it’s great]. You look up and you see the rotation and with [Nathan Eovaldi] and the way [Cody] Bradford has been throwing, you have Kumar and Jacob and Max and Andrew [Heaney], it’s a great rotation. And Jack [Leiter] as well.”

deGrom made his final rehab start on Saturday with Double-A Frisco, going four scoreless innings in which he allowed just one hit and struck out five on 49 pitches. Scherzer, who has been on the IL since Aug. 2 with right shoulder fatigue, also made a rehab appearance on Saturday, twirling four hitless innings and punching out eight with Triple-A Round Rock.

Their collective return comes amid a stretch in which the Rangers have won 10 of their past 14 games following Tuesday's 6-0 loss to the D-backs at Chase Field. They also bolster an injury-ravaged rotation that suddenly features seven capable starters for the season's final few weeks: deGrom, Scherzer, Eovaldi, Bradford, Leiter, Rocker and Heaney.

“The game, I feel like, is built around good starting pitching,” Young said of the depth. “The better your starting pitching is, it takes stress off the offense, it takes stress off the bullpen. It just sets you up better to win a series or win four to five games a week. And with the group we have, we’re very confident with each of those players and I’m excited to see them all compete with each other and set the tone and hopefully we continue to play the good baseball we’ve shown this month.”

The 36-year-old deGrom was brought to Texas to anchor the top of its starting rotation, and he figures to assume that role once more when he makes his season debut in Seattle.

“I feel really good,” deGrom told Bally Sports Southwest after his final rehab outing. “We thought it was really important to make this last start, get one more up and just work on my offspeed mainly. Trying to iron all that out before going back to trying to help the team. … I was just trying not to do too much with [my slider]. It’s been a long time since I’ve been out there competing, so those are adjustments that I’m going to have to make. I’m sure there’s gonna be more throughout the process. I’m ready to get back to help the Texas Rangers.”

In the six starts he made before his season ended last year, deGrom posted a 2.67 ERA over 30 1/3 innings, with 45 strikeouts compared to just four walks. He was forced to watch from the comfort of the dugout as the Rangers marched their way to their first World Series title in 2023.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said there isn’t a set-in-stone plan for how long deGrom or Scherzer will go in their respective starts.

“If they can go five innings or 60 [pitches], somewhere in there,” Bochy said. “If innings are going really smoothly, then they can go back out. We don’t have a hard count on it.”

While the chances of another postseason run this year appear unlikely, a healthy deGrom and Scherzer to finish the year, paired with Rocker getting valuable big league experience during the final month of the regular season, provides reason for optimism going into 2025.

“It’s huge,” Eovaldi said. “We’ve been trying to piece it together for a while now. We’ve been having to go with the bullpen days and stuff like that.

“We know how talented they are and to have them back in the rotation it’s going to help us out big time.”