Jacob deGrom might be the best pitcher in the world -- and now the two-time Cy Young Award winner is headed to Texas after signing a five-year, $185 million contract with the Rangers.

Here’s what you need to know about deGrom:

FAST FACTS
Birthdate: June 19, 1988 (Age 35 in 2023)
Primary position: SP
Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 180 lbs.
Bats/throws: Left/right
Place of birth: DeLand, Fla.
School(s): Calvary Christian Academy (Fla.), Stetson
Drafted: 9th round (272nd), 2010, by Mets
MLB debut: May 15, 2014
Qualifying offer: Received one

THE NUMBERS
2022: 5-4, 3.08 ERA (126 ERA+), 102 K, 64 1/3 IP, 1.4 WAR*
Career: 82-57, 2.52 ERA (155 ERA+), 1,607 K, 1,326 IP, 43.8 WAR
*Per Baseball-Reference

STAT TO KNOW
deGrom has 248 strikeouts and only 19 walks allowed in 156 1/3 innings over the last two seasons. That's 14.3 strikeouts per nine innings, and a 13.1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Both of those are the best among starters who've thrown at least 100 innings since the start of 2021 (Spencer Strider is next with a 13.6 K/9, and Max Scherzer is next in K/BB ratio at 6.8).

QUESTION MARK
deGrom's injury history. deGrom is the most dominant pitcher in baseball when he's on the mound, but he's missed significant time over the last few seasons with multiple injuries. Right forearm tightness ended his 2021 season in July, and in 2022, a stress reaction in his right scapula suffered during Spring Training cost deGrom the first four months of the season. He was only able to make 26 starts total between 2021 and '22.

He's looking for a third Cy Young
deGrom has two Cy Young Awards already, winning in 2018 and '19, making him one of 11 pitchers to win back-to-back Cy Youngs. If he can win another one, he'll join a group of just 10 pitchers who have three or more Cy Young Awards: Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, Greg Maddux, Clayton Kershaw, Sandy Koufax, Pedro Martinez, Jim Palmer, Max Scherzer and Tom Seaver.  

He's throws 100 mph fastballs… 
deGrom's velocity increase over the course of his career is unprecedented. With a fastball that was averaging 94 mph in 2016, deGrom raised his velo five seasons in a row, until it was averaging over 99 mph by 2021. Now his four-seamer is the fastest fastball among starting pitchers. deGrom has thrown 317 fastballs 100 mph or harder over the last three seasons -- including 51 at 101 mph or harder, and even two at 102-plus. deGrom is one of only five starting pitchers to hit 102 multiple times in the pitch-tracking era, which goes back to 2008, along with Hunter Greene, Justin Verlander, Nathan Eovaldi and Yordano Ventura.

… and 95 mph sliders 
As overpowering as deGrom's fastball is … you should see his slider. It might be his best pitch, and there's really no other slider like it. In 2022, deGrom's slider averaged almost 93 mph, the fastest slider in the Majors. At 92.6 mph, that slider was faster than 93 different starting pitchers' fastballs. deGrom even threw five sliders 95 mph or harder this season -- topping out at an absurd 96.1 and striking out Austin Riley at 95.7.

He's on the Mt. Rushmore of Mets pitchers
The Mets franchise has been defined by its great pitchers, from Tom Seaver to Dwight Gooden to deGrom. deGrom is the fourth Mets ace to win the Cy Young Award. Before him, Seaver won three for New York in 1969, '73 and '75, Gooden won in 1985, and R.A. Dickey won in 2012.

He's one of the greatest Draft steals in history
deGrom wasn't even a pitcher when he started his college career. He was a shortstop. deGrom went undrafted out of high school, so he went to Stetson and was the Hatters' starting shortstop for two seasons, batting .247. His junior year, he converted into a pitcher, and the rest is history. The Mets drafted deGrom in the ninth round of the 2010 Draft, 272nd overall, and got one of the best pitchers of his generation.  

He homered off Chris Sale in college 
deGrom hit exactly one home run in his college career. Amazingly, it came off Chris Sale. deGrom was already a pitcher by that time, and he started against Sale on March 20, 2010, when Stetson faced Florida Gulf Coast. Sale outdueled deGrom on the mound, striking out 14. But deGrom, who is still one of the better hitting pitchers in the Majors, got Sale with his bat. deGrom took the future White Sox and Red Sox ace deep -- in a lefty-lefty matchup, no less.