Jacob deGrom is back.
The Texas Rangers right-hander was named to the American League All-Star team last week in recognition of what is turning into a brilliant comeback season. A two-time Cy Young Award winner, deGrom has battled injuries since the 2021 season but is finally healthy again in 2025.
The 37-year-old had a dominant 2021 campaign ended by elbow inflammation, and missed much of the 2022 campaign due to a stress reaction in his right scapula. After leaving the New York Mets to sign a five-year, $185 million deal with the Rangers in December of 2022, he made just six starts for his new team before needing Tommy John surgery. He didn't start another major league game until September 13, 2024.
This season, deGrom has returned to form, and while he's not notching as many strikeouts as he used to, he has been excellent. Through 18 starts, he's 9-2 with a 2.29 ERA, a 0.91 WHIP, and 105 punchouts against 23 walks in 106 1/3 innings. He's currently eighth among AL pitchers in fWAR (2.6).
Though it has been years since he was at his peak, deGrom has a legitimate claim to being the most dominant pitcher of his generation. What follows is a look inside the numbers of his comeback season and his brilliant career. It should serve as a reminder of just how great he is.
1 — Pitchers with more WAR than deGrom since he broke into the big leagues in 2014. Only Max Scherzer's total of 56.3 tops deGrom's 45.4
2 — Pitchers with more fWAR than deGrom since 2014. Scherzer (52.7) and Clayton Kershaw (46.4) top deGrom's total of 45.6.
21 — More appearances (20 starts) Kershaw has had than deGrom in that time.
60 — More appearances (all starts) Scherzer has had than deGrom in that time.
0.99 — deGrom's career WHIP, second to Kershaw's 0.96 since 2014.
2.50 — deGrom's career ERA, second to Kershaw's 2.45 since 2014.
2.63 — deGrom's FIP since 2014, best among pitchers with at least 50 starts. Spencer Strider second by a significant margin (2.78), followed by Chris Sale (2.79) and Kershaw (2.83).
156 — deGrom's career ERA+, second to Kershaw's 162 since 2014. (Side note: Clayton Kershaw was really good. He was also a six-year veteran when deGrom debuted.)
1.08 — deGrom's ERA in 2021. He only made 15 starts, which prevents it from being considered one of the greatest seasons of all-time, but he had a WHIP of 0.75 and 146 strikeouts and 11 walks in 92 innings. An elbow injury ended his season on July 18.
373 — deGrom's ERA+ during that season, the best in MLB history for a pitcher making 15 or more starts by nearly 100 points. Pedro Martinez finished at 291 during his legendary 2000 season. When factoring in the Negro Leagues, deGrom's 2021 season is still the best by 50 points, topping Slim Jones's 1934 season for the Philadelphia Stars where he finished at 323.
1.98 — deGrom's combined ERA from 2018 through the '21 season. In that time, he made 91 starts and went 32-21 with 774 strikeouts in 581 innings pitched with a 0.88 WHIP.
205 — His ERA+ in that time, one of the most dominant four-year stretches for a pitcher in baseball history.
4 -- deGrom's leaguewide rank in WHIP (0.91) among starting pitchers this season.
6 -- His leaguewide rank in ERA (2.29) among starters.
20 -- Combined starts by deGrom from 2022 through '24.
18 -- Starts he has made this season.
15 -- Starts in which he has allowed two or fewer runs in 2025.
14 -- Consecutive starts in which deGrom went at least 5 innings while allowing two or fewer runs, which lasted from April 18 through July 7. It was the longest such streak in the American League since 2014.
97.4 — Average miles per hour of deGrom's four-seam fastball in 2025, which ranks fourth among qualified starters in MLB. A reminder: he's 37 years old.
Injuries cost deGrom the better part of four seasons, but that shouldn't taint his legacy. He remains one of the best pitchers of his generation and has reminded everyone of his greatness again this season.
His first All-Star selection since 2021 might be deGrom's greatest, given all he's been through in the past four seasons. He's back where he belongs, among the best pitchers in the sport.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Inside the Numbers of Jacob deGrom’s Remarkable Return to Dominance.
