Jacob deGrom reached a rare milestone on Thursday night, punching out his way into the 2,000-strikeout club during the Rangers’ start against the Washington Nationals.
Texas came in at 62-65 and still hanging around the AL West race, sitting two games behind division leader Houston. With every outing carrying weight, the Rangers needed deGrom to give them something strong, and he opened the game doing exactly that.
Through two shutout innings, he allowed one hit and struck out three Nationals. The bigger moment came quickly: the Rangers veteran entered the night with 1,998 career strikeouts and became the newest member of the 2,000-strikeout club after striking out the first two batters he faced.
That milestone also put deGrom in some very fast company. He became the second-fastest pitcher in big-league history to get to 2,000 strikeouts, reaching the mark in 1,660.1 innings. Only Chris Sale got there quicker, doing it in 1,626 innings.
For deGrom, the numbers keep underscoring how dangerous he still is on the mound. Since debuting with the New York Mets in 2014, he’s been one of the game’s most efficient pitchers on a per-game basis.
Rangers ace Jacob deGrom reaches 2,000 career strikeouts 💨 pic.twitter.com/UcRbi2GZl0
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 21, 2026
Injuries have limited how often he’s taken the ball - he has made 30 or more starts in a season only once since the turn of the decade - but the stuff has not faded. Even at 38, he remains comfortably above a strikeout per inning.
Health has also been on his side lately. Thursday’s outing was his 24th start of 2026, and over the last two seasons combined he has made 54 starts, more than he managed from 2020 to 2024, when he totaled 48.
Entering the game, deGrom had a 3.95 ERA in 23 starts and 120.2 innings this season. Fangraphs listed him at 3.0 WAR.
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