Jacob deGrom has spent the last few seasons being defined as much by what he couldn't do as what he could. Elbow surgery and a parade of setbacks limited him to just 35 total starts from 2021 through 2024, turning one of the nastiest arms in baseball into a cautionary tale about workload. He's healthy now, and on Thursday night against the Nationals he reminded everyone why the Rangers bet big on him in the first place.
The moment deGrom recorded his 2,000th career strikeout, capping the milestone in front of the home crowd.
The number itself is absurd on its own. DeGrom got to 2,000 strikeouts in 272 career starts and 1,660⅓ innings, which makes him the second-fastest pitcher to the mark in modern history by games and the second-fastest by innings, trailing only Randy Johnson (262 starts) and Chris Sale (1,626 innings), respectively. At 38 years old and coming off multiple lost seasons, that's not just impressive, it's borderline unbelievable.
A breakdown of just how fast deGrom got to 2,000, stacking him up against Randy Johnson and Chris Sale in both starts and innings pitched.
He didn't back into the milestone game, either. DeGrom struck out the side in the 4th inning to push his strikeout total for the outing to 8 through 4 frames, the kind of dominant stretch that made him a two-time NL Cy Young winner with the Mets back in 2018 and 2019.
DeGrom blows through the side in the 4th inning, running his strikeout count to 8 on the night.
The stuff hasn't diminished a bit, either. DeGrom followed the milestone punch-out with a filthy 81 mph curveball for his 9th strikeout of the night, the kind of pitch that makes hitters look silly regardless of the radar gun reading next to the heater.
DeGrom drops an 81 mph curveball for a strikeout, his 9th of the game.
It's easy to forget deGrom is only the 95th pitcher in MLB history to reach 2,000 strikeouts, and just the 9th active player to do it, given how battered his last few years looked on paper. But this is exactly the version of deGrom the Rangers signed up for when they gave him a massive deal out of New York, and after everything his body has put him through, watching him carve up lineups at 38 hits a little different.