Jacob deGrom dominates Athletics through seven innings in loss to Rangers
On "A's Cast," Chris Townsend and Shooty Babitt discuss the Athletics' 8-1 loss to the Texas Rangers on Monday at Globe Life Field.
Jacob deGrom dominates Athletics through seven innings in loss to Rangers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
That's not how you want to get the road trip started, but when you're going up against a guy that you look at the numbers I know, Shootie, we kind of said, "Well, is he gonna have enough volume to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame?"
But by the time he's up for the vote, standards probably will have changed.
Jacob deGrom, his resume so impressive.
Chris Townsend alongside the super scout, Shootie Babbitt.
DeGrom, he still shows you, at his age, he is still spectacular.
Only 85 pitches.
He is so efficient with just electric stuff, and another learning experience for, for Gage Jump.
You know, in the talk back, Dallas stated his case about the ifs and whats about if deGrom will get in.
I guarantee, if you go and ask the A's hitters tonight, "Do you think that guy's a Hall of Famer?"
You wanna see him again?
He, he, you know what the answer- Yeah is gonna be.
I mean, Jacob deGrom displayed Hall of Fame type stuff tonight.
He just dominated everywhere in the zone, everything, the fastball, the slider.
It was all working.
And, it just shows you what, dominance looks like and what Hall of Fame players look like.
They do things that are special, and there are things that he did tonight that you just sit back and said, "Wow."
85 pitches.
If this was a playoff game, he could have went the distance easily.
Well, I'll tell you what.
Tomorrow's show, I can guarantee you, the pregame, the match up is gonna be Jake Burger.
Somehow, some way, the A's got to figure out how to not let Jake Burger beat you, 'cause he has absolutely hammered the A's.
But getting back to Jacob deGrom, I don't know how many guys, at least in my lifetime, how many guys with that kind of power, with that kind of precision.
That's the one thing that kind of separates him from a lot of the pitchers is the plus plus fastball.
You know, it was great to see him say, "You know what?
I don't need to throw 100, 101, 'cause I wanna stay healthier.
So I'm gonna live at 98."
But it's the precision with the fastball slider combination as good as anybody that's ever played.
But the precision, the way he throws strikes.
Seen a lot of guys strike a lot of people out, but I don't know how many people we've ever seen with his pinpoint control.
When I look at Jacob deGrom, and when you talk about precision, I think what you see is a guy that repeats his delivery.
It's the same thing with every pitch.
The ball comes out of his hand the same way.
And we talked about his background a little bit.
This dude was a shortstop, and typically, the best athlete on the field when you are a youngster and coming up is typically at shortstop.
And these guys can play anywhere on the field, it's just the skill set is just off the chart and the game comes easy to them.
So they somewhat separate themselves from everybody else.
And with Jacob deGrom, the body, the length, how easy it comes out his hand, the ball just jumps when he releases it, I mean, he's built to be this kind of guy.
I'm a little surprised but not stunned, you know, about some of the injuries that he had, because early on in his career, he was a, just a young, lean guy, and you felt that he had to get his man weight.
Well, you look at him right now, he's got the man strength.
And so people are wondering if he can go deeper and probably get to some of those numbers.
I don't see why not.
I think he's got the worst behind him.
If anything, he understands his body and he knows how to, I guess, stay around the zone with his best stuff, even when he doesn't have his best stuff.
So, it's gonna be interesting, but man, oh, man, this dude, he was nice.
All right, I'm gonna play glass half full here because, I mean, wins and losses at this point, yes, we wanna win games, but this season is what it is, but you gotta, you gotta keep your eye on the prize, and that's finding guys that are gonna help the core that is hurt to win next year and in 2028 when we open up in Las Vegas.
It's important that guys like Henry Bolte face someone like deGrom.
Tommy Tanks, Muncy, you name the young player, to find, this is what it's like to face the best.
And then also for Gage Jump to be in this type of arena where we talked about it up in Sacramento with some people, going, "Hey, Jump's gonna be pretty fired up," 'cause you know you're going against deGrom.
So for the young players tonight, this is a really good experience.
I, I think it's a great point, Tony, because I really think the whole experience has been great.
One thing that they have learned, and it has hit them hard, is understanding what it takes or what it's going to take to be viable and healthy for an entire season.
These are young men.
These guys are just now learning how to grow mustaches and beards.
They haven't played 162 games.
To be a team, a championship playoff type of team, this is when you're supposed to be trending in a direction.
When everybody else is falling off, you're picking up steam and moving forward.
Right now, they know physically and mentally they're not capable of that.
So there's a lot of thought process gonna go into, "Well, what am I gonna do to prepare myself mentally and physically to make sure I'm strong for the whole year?"
So to be able to go through what they're going through now, the best receipt for a task is to have the experience, because now you understand what it's gonna take to be able to handle that situation.
And not too often do you get an opportunity to do it at the big league level with your career at stake, because it used to be, and I know I'm speaking in the past, but y- I'm just dating myself a little bit, when they brought you to the big leagues, you were brought there to fulfill a role.
You were brought there because somebody wasn't performing in that spot.
Now, it's your opportunity, because if you don't, it's next man up.
But because situations, players are getting there a lot sooner, a little greener than what they were in the past, you have to be a little patient, knowing it's gonna be a growing period.
There's gonna be some pains and some suffering.
But man, oh, man, when it's at the detriment of the team and you have a few guys that are in that situation, it's pretty hard to overcome.
