{"id":649015,"date":"2026-03-28T17:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T17:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/649015\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T17:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T17:40:16","slug":"rangers-ace-jacob-degrom-scratched-from-first-start-of-the-season-against-phillies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/649015\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers ace Jacob deGrom scratched from first start of the season against Phillies"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA – The Rangers<\/a> Era of Good Health lasted exactly one game.<\/p>\n

Right-hander Jacob deGrom<\/a> was scratched from Saturday\u2019s scheduled start at Philadelphia due to what the club termed \u201cneck stiffness.\u201d A club official indicated the Rangers don\u2019t believe the issue to be serious and it is possible he could start later in the road trip.<\/p>\n

With game time temperatures expected to be int 40s Saturday and warmer every day afterwards on the road trip, the Rangers chose to act with an abundance of caution to avoid any lingering issues. It\u2019s also possible the Rangers could simply skip deGrom this time through, preserving the order of the rotation. It would put him in line to make his scheduled start against Cincinnati in the home opener April 3.<\/p>\n

In his place, Jacob Latz, who had lost the battle for the No. 5 spot in the rotation<\/a> to Kumar Rocker, will make the spot start on Saturday. Latz was effective as a spot starter last year, compiling a 2.72 ERA in eight starts. Latz had pitched effectively in spring training, too, but the Rangers were concerned over a sharp drop in his fastball velocity after three innings. <\/p>\n

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The Rangers had also listed Kumar Rocker<\/a> for their start Monday in Baltimore, pushing him into the No. 4 spot, with Jack Leiter sliding to No. 5. If they can hold to the that schedule, it s would create some more advantageous matchups down the road that could eliminate the possibility of Rocker facing Seattle in either of the club\u2019s two April series. Rocker struggles with holding runners and Seattle ranked fourth in the majors last year with 164 steals. A year ago, the Mariners were rather restrained against Rocker, stealing just twice in three appearances. In his brief career, runners are 12 for 12 stealing against him.<\/p>\n

The other potential impact of Saturday\u2019s decision is the stress it could put on the bullpen, taking Latz out of the mix for the next four days and leaving the Rangers short-handed. They also don\u2019t have much flexibility to call up a pitcher without somebody going on the IL.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>How did Jacob Latz react to losing out on 5th starter role? Rangers insider responds<\/a><\/p>\n

Latz lost out on the role despite a strong spring in which his determination was on clear display.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>After opening day thud, Jacob deGrom can reset tone to start of Rangers\u2019 season<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rangers\u2019 ace takes the mound in Philadelphia for the first time in the 2026 season on Saturday. <\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA – The Rangers Era of Good Health lasted exactly one game. Right-hander Jacob deGrom was scratched from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,3417,12765,403,360,149,185,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-649015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brief","10":"tag-injury-update","11":"tag-jacob-degrom","12":"tag-kumar-rocker","13":"tag-rangers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-texas-rangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116308033263450052","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}