Jacob deGrom, who has been seriously affected by injuries in the past four years, said at the Rangers' annual dinner today (19th) that he has not only started to practice pitching, but is also ready to show his skills in the 2025 season.

The 36-year-old deGrom won the Cy Young Award twice during his time with the Mets, establishing a reputation as the top pitcher in the major leagues, with a 2.52 ERA so far in his career, the second highest among active players, and a strikeout ratio of 5.41, ranking first among any pitcher who has pitched at least 1,000 games in history.

However, since the last two years of his career at the Mets, in 2021 and 2022, deGrom has only played a total of 16 games due to injury, and after the 2022 season, he signed a five-year, $185 million contract with the Rangers, and in the first two years, 2023 and 2024, he has only played a total of nine games due to Tommy John surgery.

But the good news is that deGrom is in pretty good health since returning in September 2024 and starting three games with a 1.69 ERA and heading to the end of the season, and he stressed that he only started shooting on Feb. 1 in the past, but he has been preparing for spring training since last week.

"Because of those three starts, I was able to adjust the post-season as if it were the way I used to and not as a rehab process, which allowed me to start pitching after the post-season and everything felt good," deGrom said.

"I'm excited, it's like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and it makes me feel like, 'Let's see what we can do,' and it's a good feeling."

Chris Young, president of Rangers Baseball Affairs, said, "One of the things I'm most happy about is that Jacob is going to have a healthy season, and it's exciting for us fans to see how good he can be, and it's exciting to see him come to the court every day and have the opportunity to win when he's on the board, something that hasn't been experienced in the last year, and we look forward to and hope that fans will get a good feel this year."

The most important thing for the Rangers is deGrom's health, as long as he does that, the team can be confident that he can deliver high-quality content, and deGrom agrees, "My goal is to play as many games as possible, and I'm sure the team will be smart about it, and we don't want to go for 200 games or whatever, but I want to have 30 or so starts, and that's what I'm trying to achieve." You signed to come here to pitch and I haven't been able to do that in the last two years, so I'm going to play as many games as I can and contribute."

"I just put the ball in the good belt and don't think about anything, so yes, I think I can get back to my old form." deGrom said.