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Texas Rangers hurler Jacob DeGrom has drawn comparisons to Boston Red Sox’s great Pedro Martinez as DeGrom makes a case for Cooperstown.
Insider Joel Sherman argues that, despite his limited innings count at this point in his career, Jacob DeGrom could have enough of a track record to warrant enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.
During an appearance on MLB Now published on Wednesday, Sherman offered the following insights into how DeGrom stacks up against Pedro Martinez.
“DeGrom, pitch for pitch, I would put Pedro Martinez, the best pitcher I’ve ever seen," he said. "Pitch for pitch, I would put DeGrom in that category. He just hasn’t thrown as many pitches.”
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Sherman underscored the fact that DeGrom lacks the traditional Hall of Fame numbers that lock pitchers in voters’ minds. But that doesn’t mean that Jacob DeGrom still can’t stack his numbers in the latter portion of his career.
“I think what we’re going to see, and I think this year’s important to him," Sherman added. "I think next year’s important and the years after. This whole time, can he make a belated Hall of Fame run?”
Sherman believes that DeGrom can step to the forefront of the Hall of Fame discussion once older pitchers like Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Clayton Kershaw eventually retire.
When that occurs, pitchers like Jacob DeGrom, Chris Sale, and Zach Wheeler could be on track for Hall of Fame enshrinement as the criteria used to measure greatness in starting pitchers begins to shift to accommodate the reality that starters no longer log the same number of innings or games.
“I think this is starting pitching now," Sherman said. "It misses time… just to put a finer point… this is a guy who, sitting today, is top six in history in ERA+, WHIP, hits per 9 innings, strikeouts per 9 innings, and strikeouts to walks, in history, for 1,400 innings.
"At what point does it become enough for voters to say the greatness was enough, though it was interrupted along the way.”
If DeGrom can continue putting up solid numbers for the remainder of his career, he could very well end up building a convincing case for Cooperstown once his playing days are done.
Jacob DeGrom going head-to-head against Aaron Judge in the Bronx
Jacob DeGrom, one of the greatest pitchers of his generation, went head-to-head against Aaron Judge, one of the greatest hitters of his era.
The showdown took place on Wednesday night during the third inning of the Rangers-Yankees tilt at Yankee Stadium.
With the game scoreless in the bottom of the third, Jacob DeGrom dug in against Judge. The epic nine-pitch at-bat ended with Judge skying a popup to shallow right-center. Rangers’ second baseman Marcus Semien camped under the ball to make the catch.
Check out the showdown here:
What became truly interesting about the at-bat was both combatants' reactions. Judge smiled at DeGrom, implying that he narrowly missed a home run, while DeGrom smiled back, acknowledging that he got away with one.
Judge is 1-for-5 lifetime against DeGrom with one RBI and two walks in eight plate appearances. The duo will be seeing more of each other this week as the Rangers and Yankees duel it out for American League supremacy.
