De Grom's career first strikeout start, the legendary pitcher of 12 years shows his mortal side

It may be time to revisit Jacob deGrom, the Rangers' ace pitcher who conceded 2.1 innings and two runs in a 229-game loss to the Blue Jays on Monday. As the two-time Cyon Award winner stepped off the pitcher's mound, the glaring "0K" on the scoreboard reminded the world that even the gods of baseball have moments when they fall into the mortal world.

"Actually, I didn't know about this statistic," De Grom admitted after the game, "and the Blue Jays played aggressively, which gave me the illusion that I might be able to play long innings." Against the opponent with the fewest strikeouts (380) in the All-American League, Texas hit five hits and sent two free throwers in the game, and his ERA rate rose to 2.73 when he left the game with 81 goals. That was in stark contrast to Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman's dominating performance of only losing points to Wyatt Langford's spring cannon in eight innings.

Since spring training, de Grom has struggled with pitching machine production. In this game, the accuracy of his speedball was noticeably inaccurate, and the slider repeatedly deviated from the set position. "Today it was like a step in the wrong direction," he said with annoyance, "and the inability to establish an advantage in the low post led to the collapse of the whole distribution system." The stats confirm the struggle: only three swings were made in the game, and the rate of good shots in the slide was less than 40%.

The scheduling strategy of Rangers coach Bruce Bochy became another focus. The change before the end of the six innings stems from the health control of the 36-year-old veteran, who has accumulated 199 balls in the first two games against the Astros and Yankees. That caution is understandable, given that De Grom underwent his second career Tommy John surgery last June. In fact, since pitching 204 innings for the Mets in 2019, injury clouds have loomed over the legendary pitcher: he has started just 35 games in the past four years and has only made nine appearances in the Rangers' first two seasons combined.

"It's important to keep the workload under control at this stage," Bochi stressed when explaining the decision, "and that's key to ensuring his long-term contribution." When he returned last September, De Grom surprised the league with a performance of 10.2 innings and 14K and a 1.69 ERA, but health has always been the sword hanging from the top. For the Rangers, who are aiming to make the playoffs, how to balance the glass ace with the championship ambition will become the most important issue this summer.

When asked about his fitness, De Grom showed his usual fighting qualities: "I feel good and now I just want to focus on improving my performance. Today's problem has nothing to do with the workload, it's purely about not doing well enough. At the Universal Life Stadium at sunset, the "0K" on the scoreboard seems to tell that even a superstar with a 102mph fireball needs to learn to reconcile with time.