Right-hander Jacob deGrom was the Texas Rangers’ lone selection for the All-Star Game next week, and on Friday he bowed out to minimize injury risk.
HOUSTON — Jacob deGrom is fine physically, and the Texas Rangers right-hander wants to keep it that way for the rest of the season. To that end, he won’t be pitching next week at the All-Star Game in Atlanta.
No Rangers players will be in Atlanta, barring someone being added as a substitute.
The Cy Young-contending deGrom withdrew from the Midsummer Classic on Friday, leaving the Rangers without representation in the game. He was replaced by Royals closer Carlos Estevez, the next man up in the player vote.
The Rangers’ ace is scheduled to make his 19th start of the season Saturday in the second game of a key three-game series against the Astros. He sits at 106 1/3 innings in his first full season after Tommy John surgery, a stretch that includes taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning last month at Baltimore.
Don’t get deGrom wrong. He wants to pitch in his fifth All-Star Game and would be throwing on his normal bullpen day, three days after his Saturday start. But the Rangers’ postseason aspirations took precedence over getting revved up for one inning in an exhibition game.
He said he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he were to get injured.
“I just think at this point in the season and where I’m at with innings and first year back, it’s not the most ideal thing to ramp up on the third day,” deGrom said. “I get it’s my bullpen day, but there’s a different intensity when a batter steps in the box. I think it’s just trying to play it smart and be safe for our team and for my own health, because we got to win baseball games.”
The Rangers will continue to monitor him in the second half and try to build extra days between his starts when possible. They aren’t planning to use him until the fifth game out of the All-Star break, at home against the A’s, a move that will give him 10 days off.
Left-hander Patrick Corbin is likely to start the first game after the All-Star break, next Friday at home against the Tigers. Manager Bruce Bochy said there was a sense of relief that deGrom won’t be pitching Tuesday at Truist Field.
“He’s been carrying a pretty heavy workload coming off the surgery,” Bochy said. “We want to monitor his workload this year. So, yeah, there’s a big relief for us.”
Bochy is not pleased that right-hander Nathan Eovaldi hasn’t been added to the American League roster. Though the Rangers would likely not want Eovaldi to pitch, especially since he is pitching Sunday, he said he would at least consider it.
The triceps injury that sidelined Eovaldi for four weeks prevents him from being a qualifier for statistical leaders, and that might have been what caused more players not to vote for him. If he were a qualifer, his 1.62 ERA through 15 starts would lead the AL and rank second in the majors behind a deserving non-qualifier who has been injured in the National League, Kodai Senga (1.47).
“I would love to be going,” Eovaldi said. “I’d love to be representing the Rangers and participating in it. I feel like I’ve thrown the ball well, but there are a lot of guys out there who’ve done the ball really well this year.
“I don’t know whether it’s the injuries or what, but I’ve done my best to try to go out there and throw up zeros on the mound.”
Jeff Wilson, jwilson@alldlls.com
