Texas Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom received the MLB Players Association’s Comeback Player of the Year award Wednesday for his stellar 2025 season after missing more than a year because of injury.
The 37-year-old right-hander went 12-8 with a 2.97 ERA in 30 starts, part of a Rangers staff that led the major leagues with a 3.47 ERA. DeGrom and the pitching staff were a bright spot during a trying season that saw the Rangers miss the playoffs for the second straight season after winning the World Series.
Shortly into his first season with Texas in 2023, DeGrom underwent the second Tommy John surgery of his career for a tear in his right ulnar collateral ligament. He missed nearly the entire 2024 season, returning only for three starts at the end of the campaign.
He pitched 172 2/3 innings this season, his most since 2019, when won his second straight NL Cy Young Award with the New York Mets. DeGrom amassed only 105 1/3 innings from 2022-24.
DeGrom sat down with “CBS Mornings,” which revealed the MLBPA award winners, to talk his journey back to the mound.
“Signing here and blowing out right away was obviously devastating for me,” deGrom said. “Thirty-five years old and getting the news that I’m gonna need a second surgery, that’s a tough blow. We were kinda back and forth on whether I would be able to pitch or not. … You make the minor league starts, and then you get back on a major league mound where you want to be competing, and you get out there and there’s a little bit of doubt.”
Any doubt was silenced by his dominant season, and deGrom thanked his support system for helping him get back to form.
“We had our third child, Nolan, week and half before I had surgery, so it was interesting,” he said. “At first I’m in an arm brace carrying around a newborn with my left arm and the two other kids, Jaxon and Aniston, but my wife, Stacey, throughout the whole thing was there to support me. I wouldn’t be here without a whole group effort.”
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