Rangers wait on next steps for deGrom with injured ace home in Florida for birth

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Texas Rangers will wait until Jacob deGrom returns from Florida for the birth of his third child before determining the next steps for the injured two-time National League Cy Young Award winner, who hasn't pitched in more than a month.

General manager Chris Young said Friday that deGrom, out with right elbow inflammation since April 28, would be home with his family through the weekend.

“We’ll get him back Monday, kind of evaluate where he is, what he’s been able to do over the last few days, and what the next steps are and go from there,” Young said.

DeGrom had been with the team and thrown five bullpen sessions since going on the injured list the day after he last pitched against the New York Yankees, which was the second time in three starts he exited early because of injury concerns. His latest bullpen was Wednesday in Detroit before he flew home to Florida.

The AL West-leading Rangers haven't determined yet if deGrom make a rehab start before pitching again for them. Young, without elaborating, said there were “some more steps to take” before getting to that point.

“But I’m really happy for for him and his wife and his kiddos. It's an exciting time and I know Jacob wears the stress of this, he really wants to be out there as much as anybody,” Young said. "I talked to him before he went home and just said, ‘Hey, relax and enjoy this time. It’s the most important part. You don’t get these moments back. Go enjoy it and we’ll figure out the baseball part when you get back’.''

The Rangers signed deGrom to a $185 million, five-year contract last offseason, when they also added Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney. Eovaldi (7-2, 2.42) was 4-0 with a 0.96 ERA in his five starts in May, allowing more than one run only once.

Texas has won all six games started by deGrom (2-0), but he has been limited to 30 1/3 innings. He has a 2.67 ERA with 45 strikeouts and four walks. After exiting a start at Kansas City despite four no-hit innings on April 17, deGrom struck out 11 and allowed one earned run over six innings in a win against Oakland on April 23 But five days after that, he left exited the Yankees game after 3 2/3 scoreless innings.

DeGrom played his first nine big league seasons with the Mets. He was limited by injuries to 156 1/3 innings over 26 starts his last two years in New York.

Before missing the final three months of the 2021 season with right forearm tightness and a sprained elbow, deGrom had a career-low 1.08 ERA over 92 innings. He was then shut down late in spring training in 2022 year because of a stress reaction in his right scapula and didn’t make his first big-league start until Aug. 2.

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