deGrom's First Appearance For Rangers Comes On The Backfields

It might not have been the way the Texas Rangers envisioned rolling out their splashy offseason signing, Jacob deGrom. But after a little injury hiccup to start camp, an appearance on the backfields against a minor league roster seemed like the prudent thing to do. 

Jacob deGrom making his first Spring Training appearance with the Rangers today at a AAA game.

He surrendered an inside the park HR to the 2nd batter, Royals minor leaguer Omar Hernandez.

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Despite giving up an inside-the-park home run to the Omaha Stormchasers' 2nd batter, deGrom settled in to strike out the next two batters, and had a nice spring debut, hitting 99 MPH and striking out five of the seven batters he faced in two innings.

The Rangers signed deGrom to a five-year/$185M deal in December, but then saw him come into camp this spring and immediately pull up a little lame with a side injury. The generational pitcher missed large chunks of each of the last two seasons with a variety of injuries with the New York Mets, leaving some Rangers' followers holding their breath. 

But he appears to be back at full health, and should still be on track to be the Opening Day starter. 

Photo: Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports