Jacob deGrom is revitalizing his dormant Hall of Fame case with the Rangers

MLB’s most prestigious honor is reserved for those renowned players whose names were synonymous with an era in baseball history. Each plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame enshrines the culmination of a career's achievements, showcasing continued excellence over several years. However, this leaves the legacies of many stellar players with short stints of utter dominance — such as Ryan Howard, Tim Lincecum and Roger Maris — excluded from baseball’s most revered hallways. 

When we think of Rangers ace Jacob deGrom, we are instantly reminded of his prime with the Mets that spanned from his 2014 rookie year and lasted through the shortened 2020 season. Over that time, deGrom was widely regarded as the best pitcher in baseball. deGrom was his usual dominant self to begin that 2021 season, which featured a complete game. However, halfway through the campaign, he suffered a season-ending injury — the start of a run of poor injury luck that limited him to just 35 total games from 2021 to 2024.

There is a long list of players whose Hall of Fame cases were destroyed by injuries after excelling through the first half of their careers; Howard and Lincecum are among them. Before the start of his many injury stints, deGrom had already built a strong Hall of Fame case.

deGrom won the 2014 Rookie of the Year Award, won back-to-back Cy Youngs in 2018 and 2019 and won the ERA title in 2018 with a 1.70 ERA. In addition to winning two Cy Young Awards, he received Cy Young votes four other times, including in 2021. To date, he has posted only one down year, throwing to a 3.53 ERA in 2017, which isn’t a down year by most other pitchers’ standards. It was also only one of two times in his first eight years where he had an ERA in the 3.00s (posted a 3.08 ERA in 2022, the second-highest ERA of his career, which he pitched to during his injury-laden ninth MLB season).

Today, deGrom owns a lifetime 93-59 record over his time with the Mets and Rangers. His career 2.50 ERA isn’t just the lowest of all current qualifying pitchers, but the lowest of the modern era, followed closely by Clayton Kershaw’s 2.52 ERA. His 5.35 strikeout-to-walk ratio (SO/BB) stands as an all-time best. deGrom is certainly good enough for a spot in Cooperstown, but did his long stretch of injuries damage his once-impenetrable case? It may not matter. 

This season, deGrom is back and healthy in his third year with the Texas Rangers. And if his HOF case fell somewhere on the borderline during his many absences, this year might be the one that tips the scales. 

In 2025, deGrom has a 2.29 ERA with 105 strikeouts and an opponent average of .195 in 106.1 innings. If he finishes the season with an ERA below 3.00 and an innings count of 140 or higher, it will be the fifth time in his career he has hit such a mark. Of course, the Hall of Fame greatly values longevity and it would be difficult for deGrom’s HOF case to be ratified after spending just 12 years in the majors. Nonetheless, deGrom’s case is much like that of Sandy Koufax, whose career ended after just 12 years due to arthritis. 

Over the first half of his career, Koufax pitched to ERAs mostly in the high 3.00s and scattered around the 4.00s. Besides the 3.02 he posted in his short rookie season (12 games, five starts), the lowest ERA he pitched to over his first seven years stood at 3.52. However, over the next five years, Koufax was the best arm in the game, winning three Triple Crowns. 

deGrom’s case, while compelling, may still be on the borderline. Still, if he can finish strong this season, he might be etching his name and likeness on a plaque. Regardless, deGrom still has some fuel left in the tank. If he fails to win over HOF voters this season, he can still do that in the coming seasons.