– The Texas Rangers, the World Series champions, have two multiple Cy Young Award winners who might return to the rotation in the middle of the summer.
Max Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young winner, announced Saturday that he is recovering from December surgery to repair a herniated disk in his lower back, while Jacob deGrom, a two-time winner, wants to resume throwing this spring following elbow surgery that halted his Rangers debut after only six starts.
“When we get back here, hopefully around the trade deadline, it’s like picking up a couple players,” deGrom said at the team’s annual FanFest.
Scherzer, 39, was acquired by the Rangers on the trade deadline last summer and went 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA in eight starts before missing the final two weeks of the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs due to a strained muscle in his right shoulder. He started twice in the AL Championship Series, but was forced to leave Game 3 of the World Series after three innings due to back discomfort, which resulted in surgery on December 15.
“We won the World Series, so everything’s great,” Scherzer said. “You’ve got to keep the glass half-full mentality to this.”
The right-hander stated that he was examined by specialists immediately following the season, and an MRI revealed a small amount of inflammation in his back. Scherzer claimed he began feeling better before getting nerve discomfort in his leg, and he received two epidural injections before another MRI discovered the ruptured disk.
“I was not doing anything. Scherzer added, “I wish I could tell you that was actually jumping off a boat or something crazy.” “I’m basically hobbling around, chasing kids. That was the extent of my involvement.”
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Scherzer said he made it through a critical six-week post-surgery period without issues.
“Now it’s just in the stage of just building back up of where I can get back into it and at the same time [figuring out] how to keep the arm primed as you’re navigating something where the biggest concerns are bending, lifting, twisting,” he went on to say.
His 3,367 strikeouts are the highest among active pitchers. Last season, he went 13-6 with a 3.77 ERA in 27 starts for the New York Mets and Rangers, striking out 174 in 152⅔ innings. Scherzer exercised his 2024 option as part of the July 30 deal with Texas, and the Mets will pay Texas $30,833,334, bringing the pitcher’s total cost to Texas to $12.5 million.
Last offseason, former Mets star Jacob deGrom signed a five-year, $185 million contract with a conditional option for 2028 due to elbow surgery that limited him to 30⅓ innings. He went 2-0 with a 2.67 ERA and 45 strikeouts as the Rangers won all six games he started; they would have missed the playoffs if they hadn’t won at least three of them.
DeGrom, 35, stated that he has begun a plyometric conditioning regimen that he will have to finish before returning to throwing later this spring.
“My arm feels really good,” he stated. “It’s simply what is smart. You don’t want to press it since you want to continue pitching here for the following,
