Prior to last season, Jacob deGrom told the media at Texas Rangers Fan Fest that his goal was to make 30 starts, a number that most starters aim to hit, but one that raised eyebrows coming from a guy who was just coming off his second Tommy John surgery.

Nonetheless, deGrom made exactly 30 starts and put forth a great year, going 12-8 with a 2.97 ERA and making the All-Star team for the first time since 2021.

With a year of success under his belt in a Rangers uniform, Texas is sticking with a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to deGrom’s workload.

“I think it’s going to be a very similar approach [to last year],” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said when discussing deGrom’s workload.

“[We’re going to try to get] the best out of him for us and also be strong to make a September push where there’s meaningful games and we can use him to let it go,” Schumaker said.

"I think it’s a very similar progression [to last year] and it worked out well for him, and so we’re trying to keep him around that inning mark and depending on what September looks like, maybe even exceed it," Schumaker said.

DeGrom himself, however, has his sights set on exceeding the 172.2 innings he pitched in 2025. If we learned anything from last year, then when deGrom says he’s going to accomplish something, it’s not the wisest idea to bet against him.

“[2025] was the first real year off surgery, and I try to set personal goals. I’d like to throw 200 innings again,” deGrom said. "So we’ll just see. Last year, I was able to make 30 starts and felt like I could have kept going.

"If we had made the playoffs, I felt like I was ready to go, so we’ll build off that and just see how this year goes and hopefully run out there as many times as I can," deGrom continued.

Early on in the season, deGrom isn’t expected to exceed 80-85 pitches as he did last year. One thing is certain: The Rangers are a better team when the 37-year-old is on the field, so the club will look for anything to keep him healthy.

With starting pitching once again figuring to be the Rangers' strength, keeping deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, MacKenzie Gore, and Jack Leiter healthy will be huge in terms of the team’s overall success.

For deGrom, the thought of what the pitching staff could be in 2026 brings nothing but excitement and hope.

“Super excited,” deGrom said. “If you look around at Evo, MacKenzie, Leiter, Latz, Kumar, we've got options. [We’ll] try to keep everybody healthy and go out there and put this team in a position to win. We’ve got really good arms, so the goal is to stay out there and just compete”.

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