Jacob deGrom projected to reach a season milestone not seen in 7 seasons

One of the best things to come out of an average season for the 2025 Texas Rangers was the resurgence of ace Jacob deGrom solidifying himself as the dominant pitcher the country saw on display as he was winning back-to-back Cy Young Awards with the New York Mets.

With a 12-8 record, deGrom made 30 starts with a 2.97 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and 187 strikeouts over 172.2 innings pitched.

There is one area that MLB.com is forecasting that the fireballer will be even better at in 2026, and that is hitting at least 200 strikeouts for the first time in seven seasons, in which he led the National League with 255 strikeouts.

Ranger fans might have mixed feelings about MLB.com's projection

It would be fantastic to see deGrom follow up his Player of the Year campaign with an even better and more productive 2026. If he does surpass 200 strikeouts, then it would almost assuredly mean that he has had another dominant season, is in the Cy Young hunt and is leading the Rangers to the postseason.

For all those reasons, Rangers' fans definitely want to see deGrom ring up well over that mark this season. But some will ask whether the Rangers need that much production from their ace.

The 37-year-old deGrom has an obvious injury history. He seemed to do fine with the workload given to him last year and even spoke about how dialing his fastball back a little was key to not suffering any physical setbacks.

Let the rest of the starting rotation pick up the slack

The Rangers are in an extremely advantageous position regarding their starting staff. Nathan Eovaldi, MacKenzie Gore, Jack Leiter and either Jacob Latz, Cody Bradford or Kumar Rocker will be set to finish the rotation. New Rangers' manager Skip Schumaker wants to continue to keep deGrom on an inning and pitch count again.

It would be a lot of fun to see deGrom get back up to 13 or 14 strikeouts per nine innings again, like in his halcyon days but why push an aging starter with the risk of adding to his lengthy IL history? Especially when he found such an incredible groove last season.