On the 19th of June 1988, Jacob Anthony deGrom was born in DeLand Florida to his parents Tony and Tammy deGrom. He is best known for being a highly regarded pitcher in Major League Baseball who had an impressive career at the New York Mets. Before Jacob deGrom played professional baseball, he went to Stetson University, where he played for the Stetson Hatters, a college baseball team.
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When deGrom first started playing baseball, he played as a shortstop, but it wasn’t long before he switched things up and became a pitcher, which occurred at some point during his junior year of college. In 2010, the New York Mets chose him for the MLB draft in the 9th round, and on the 15th of May 2014, deGrom made his first-ever debut for them. deGrom got off to a flying start with the Mets, taking home the Rookie of the Month award twice for the National League (NL) and the Rookie of the Year award.
His success as a professional pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) didn’t stop there as he was chosen to be part of the Major League Baseball All-star team in four of the following seven years, which is a huge accomplishment. The was also chosen in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2021. In addition to this, deGrom picked up multiple awards throughout these years, including the Cy Young Award in 2018, where he was also given the title of NL ERA leader. The following year he continued his hot streak of outstanding performances and, unbelievably, won the Cy Young Award again. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise when you find out that in 2019 he was leading the NL in strikeouts. In 2020, not only was deGrom leading the NL in strikeouts again, but he had gained the reputation as being one of the top pitchers currently playing in the MLB. If this wasn’t enough, in 2019, deGrom was named New York Post’s best professional athlete during the 2010s.
Amateur Career
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Jacob deGrom started playing baseball and basketball for his small school located in Ormond Beach, Florida, Calvary Christian Academy. He clearly had a natural talent for sports, as he was voted player of the year in his district for basketball and was chosen to play for the all-state third team. deGrom decided to focus on baseball in his senior years, which paid off as he was selected to play for the All-Florida second team. During this time, he also played in the American Legion Baseball, which was when he first got noticed by the Stetson Hatters coaches.
He wasn’t, however, selected for Major League Baseball and instead went to Stetson university so he could continue playing baseball for the Hatters. At this time, deGrom only played shortstop and was considered to have a strong arm but was still a light hitter. He made a move to play pitcher in 2009, which is when his career really took off. He quickly became regarded as one of the best pitchers for the Hatters, and it wasn’t long before scouts for the MLB started noticing him. The game that is regarded as getting deGrom into the MLB was when he was pitching against the Chris Sale of Florida Gulf Coast University, where he managed to hit his first and only home run of the entire season.
Professional Career
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The New York Mets picked up deGrom during the ninth round of the 2010 MLB draft selection, where he was given a signing bonus of $95,000. He played at a rookie level for the Kingsport Mets however, during his time playing, he injured his elbow and required surgery to repair it. This meant that he didn’t play for the entire year of 2011 so he could let his arm heal fully.
The sportsman went on to play for several different baseball teams before finally being selected for the New York Mets in 2014. The starting pitcher for the New York Mets at the time was Dillon Gee, who picked up an injury mid-season which allowed deGrom to be selected for the starting team. His first game for the New York Mets was on the 15th of May, 2014, against the New York Yankees. Although the New York Mets didn’t win, deGrom had a respectable performance which earned him future starting spots.
2014 was a great year for deGrom, picking up multiple awards, including the Rookie of the Month Award for the month of September, as well as being named the Rookie of the Year by Sporting News NL.
Jacob deGrom’s career following this year went from strength to strength, earning multiple titles as well as a reputation for being one of the best pitchers in the game of baseball. In 2022, he suffered a stress fracture to his right scapula during a training session which caused him to miss a large proportion of the 2022 season. In August, however, he returned to the field and showed that he is just as good as before, striking out six and only allowing one run.
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