SEATTLE — Jacob deGrom, winner of two Cy Young Awards and possessor of the best stuff of this generation, admitted Thursday he was “nervous” about his impending return to the mound after 14 months away.
Nervous, Jacob? You mean, excited?
“Yeah, excited,” he said. “But I’m nervous, too. The fear of failure is something I absolutely can’t stand.”
So, just imagine how Kumar Rocker must have felt. Rocker was only a couple of hours away from making quite possibly the most anticipated pitching debut by a Ranger in the last 30 years. Maybe the last 50. David Clyde’s, coming less than a month after he was drafted in 1973, caused a traffic jam on the old Turnpike. That, however, was purely theatrical, a failing franchise that needed to sell some tickets. It worked. At the future expense of Clyde’s career.
This is no gimmick.
For the record, Rocker didn’t look nervous at that moment. He was sitting across the visiting clubhouse, in T-shirt, shorts and shower shoes at his locker. Got up a few minutes later and walked out to the field, still rocking the shower shoes and spent about 30 minutes sitting on the railing along the left field foul line, chatting with bullpen catcher Chase Casali, then listening to a couple of corny jokes from pitching coach Mike Maddux (even laughed, too) and getting cordial fist-bumps from his teammates ahead of the start against Seattle, an eventual 5-4 come-from-behind Rangers win.
Didn’t look nervous to start the game either. Or after Victor Robles singled back through the box on a 96 mph heater on the game’s first pitch. Or, for that matter, after Julio Rodriguez followed two pitches later with a single through the right side on a slider. Nope. Didn’t seem to phase him one bit.
Rocker just kept pumping strikes, particularly with a sharp slider the Mariners couldn’t figure out. Now, on the surface that doesn’t seem like that big a deal, considering the Mariners have already fired their hitting instructor twice this year and are on pace for the second-most strikeouts by a team in MLB history, which would eclipse, well, the 2023 Mariners. That disclaimer aside, for the purposes of keeping your pulse from quickening too much, yeah, the slider was still breathtaking.
It was good enough to get 13 swings and misses in his four innings of work. Ran out of pitches, but not before he struck out J.P. Crawford on his 74th offering of the evening — a slider — to end the fourth. The only blemish was veteran Justin Turner timing up a full-count fastball and driving it out to center with one out in the fourth. And you could make an argument if you wanted to that had home plate umpire Rob Drake been in strike-hunting mode, he would have rung up Turner earlier. He twice passed on the opportunity. Welcome to the big leagues, rookie.
As it was, Rocker struck out seven in his four innings of work, tied for the fourth most by a Ranger in his major league debut. Right below Clyde and Paul Mirabella and tied with Glen Otto and Justin Grimm. Look, the list of names is just for context. And maybe a little transition, too.
First, it’s worth noting the Rangers are not an organization with an illustrious pitching history. Second, debut results aren’t necessarily indicative of a career. Look, maybe the greatest debut in Rangers history was by Brian Sikorski, who pitched seven shutout innings at Yankee Stadium one day in 2000. He would win three more games in his career. Spent longer in the Rangers organization as a scout in the last decade than he did as a pitcher.
What is important is this: Rocker threw strikes, stayed composed when he ran into early trouble, showed a real swing-and-miss offering and an ability to pitch even when his fastball wasn’t at its peak.
The first tenet of the Rangers’ pitching mantra is get ahead. He threw first-pitch strikes to 10 of the first 13 hitters he faced. That led to five of his seven strikeouts. When he allowed a pair of runners in the first and fell behind No. 3 hitter Cal Raleigh 2-0, he didn’t flinch. Nor did he flinch when he walked a pair of hitters in the third. Came back and got Randy Arozarena on maybe his best fastball of the night to end the threat.
There is still a lot to be shown. Rocker has only faced one hitter three times in a game since coming back from elbow surgery in May of last year. His 74-pitch outing was the longest since his return.
For a first offering, though, it was all the Rangers could ask for: Top of the rotation stuff and poise, which is what the club was betting on when it surprised most experts by taking Rocker third in the 2022 draft, a year after a dispute over his shoulder led to a failed physical with the New York Mets.
That may be a theme to the weekend. The Mets’ loss of deGrom and Rocker is at the heart of the Rangers’ future.
“This is a fun weekend for our franchise,” GM Chris Young said before the game. “Obviously, we’re getting Jacob and Max [Scherzer] back on consecutive days and then, on top of that, having our top draft pick from a couple years ago make his debut. It’s not just a September debut. He’s kind of flown through the minor leagues because of his performance and earned the opportunity to pitch in the big leagues.
“Innings are one thing, but experience is another. And this is a player who’s had tremendous amateur experience. He may not have accumulated innings on the mound, but he’s accumulated experience and wisdom, through his rehab and the work he’s done. I wouldn’t call him an immature, unfinished player by any means. He’s a very mature, poised player who knows exactly what he needs to do to be successful.”
Sure seemed that way on Thursday.
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