Rangers ace Jacob deGrom is set for his 2026 debut after he had been scratched from his originally scheduled start on Saturday with neck stiffness.
deGrom will start Tuesday against the Orioles, the club announced. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. ET in Baltimore.
The 37-year-old has had myriad health concerns in his career, causing alarm when he missed Saturday’s start. He said he woke up feeling stiff Saturday but went to the ballpark early to try to get treatment and hopefully make his start. He, manager Skip Schumaker and the training staff decided not to push it, but deGrom was confident he’d be able to start this week on the road trip.
“It was fine before today, that's what was so annoying,” deGrom said. “I felt really good throwing my bullpen the other day. It felt great. Like I said, I woke up and I was like, ‘Oh man, my neck.’ We did some heat and laser stuff, stretched it out just to see. I threw some plyo balls to see, but I kind of feel it when I'm throwing those. The training staff said it’s the first start of the season, let's not do something where it turns into multiple weeks. We can just push it [back] a couple days, and hopefully, be fine.”
deGrom made 30 starts in an excellent 2025, his first time hitting that mark since his Cy Young Award-winning 2019 performance. He was an All-Star for the fifth time last season as a slightly lowered arm angle led to strong results. The tall righty recorded a 2.97 ERA while striking out 27.7% of hitters against a 5.5% walk rate.
deGrom enters his fourth year with the Rangers after signing a five-year, $185 million contract in 2023.