The Texas Rangers will skip deGrom's next scheduled start due to shoulder fatigue.

Jacob deGrom set out this season to take the mound for every turn in the rotation, regardless of how improbable that seemed.

As the season entered its final six weeks, he had managed to do just that. But now, with shoulder fatigue, the Rangers have decided to skip his scheduled start against the Royals tomorrow. Before today’s game at Kauffman Stadium, President of Baseball Operations Chris Young said deGrom has returned to Texas for an evaluation by team physician Dr. Keith Meister, who performed Tommy John surgery on him in June 2023.

Young explained that deGrom didn’t want to miss his start and preferred just a short delay, but the team made the call in order to keep him as healthy as possible.

At this time, the Rangers see this as a matter of managing his workload. So far in 2025, deGrom has pitched 140.1 innings, his highest total since his Cy Young Award-winning 2019 season—when he surpassed 200 innings for the third straight year.

“Obviously, the timing isn’t ideal, but honestly, Jacob has been outstanding for us all year,” Young said. “After everything he’s done for our organization this season, the last thing we want is to put him at risk. Our hope is to skip just one start and then finish strong. All the tests came back fine; it’s just routine fatigue. This is the biggest workload he’s had in quite a while. Jacob wants to keep pitching, but we made this decision for him.”

After undergoing Tommy John surgery in June 2023, deGrom made only nine starts in his first two seasons with the Rangers. Before joining Texas, he started just 38 games over three years with the Mets, which included the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and a series of injuries during 2021-22.

This year, deGrom was selected to his fifth All-Star Game, posting a 10-5 record with a 2.76 ERA. In his most recent outing last Saturday in Toronto, he threw five shutout innings and struck out five.

“His goal is to make every single start,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He really just wanted a few extra days of rest. We’re the ones who decided to be cautious. That’s why we had him checked out. Dr. Meister’s evaluation was all positive. We just felt it was best to give him a full day off. But I agree, from that perspective, he’s had a very impressive season.”