How did Texas Rangers’ Jacob deGrom fare in his first spring training start?
Jacob deGrom, the Texas Rangers’ marquee offseason free agent signing, finally pitched to live batters Monday.
The former Cy Young award winner had not made a start in spring training after reporting to camp with tightness in his left side. deGrom made his spring training debut against Kansas City’s Triple-A affiliate, Omaha.
Nathan Eovaldi also got on the mound for the first time since experiencing left-side tightness. He pitched against the Royals’ Double-A Northwest Arkansas team.
deGrom and Eovaldi pitched well in their return.
deGrom notched five strikeouts and two fly outs in two innings of work and looked every bit the ace the Rangers hoped he would be. His lone blemish on the day was an inside-the-park home run.
Speaking with reporters after the game deGrom was happy with his performance.
“First couple of batters didn’t locate my fastball that well then started mixing it up and dialed in a little bit. Everything felt great,” deGrom said, “Really happy with the changeup, curveball, I think they’re going to be plus pitches this year.”
In his return, Eovaldi struck out two batters while allowing two hits and no runs in two innings of work. Eovaldi was excited to be back on the mound.
“It’s definitely nice being back out there. I threw all my pitches mixed everything in there. There were a couple of times when I had guys 0-2, 1-2 and just didn’t quite finish the pitches the way I wanted to. I felt like I had a good pitch mix,” said Eovaldi, “felt good, healthy.”
It’s a good sign for the Rangers that both pitchers looked sharp and felt good in their returns.
deGrom and Eovaldi said they think that they’ll be ready by opening day.
This story was originally published March 14, 2023 at 1:14 PM.
