Max Scherzer says he, Jacob deGrom aiming for mid-summer return - ESPN

ARLINGTON, Texas — The World Series champion Texas Rangers have two multiple Cy Young Award winners who could return to their rotation sometime in the middle of the summer.

Three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer said Saturday that he is progressing from December surgery to repair a herniated disk in his lower back, while two-time winner Jacob deGrom plans to resume throwing this spring after elbow surgery that ended his Rangers debut after only six starts.

«When we get us back here, hopefully somewhere around the trade deadline, it's like picking up a couple guys,» deGrom said during the team's annual FanFest.

Scherzer was a trade-deadline acquisition for the Rangers last summer, and he was 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA in eight starts before missing the last two weeks of the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs because of a strained muscle in his right shoulder. He started twice in the AL Championship Series but was forced from his start in Game 3 of the World Series after three innings because of back discomfort that eventually led to surgery on Dec. 15.

«We won the World Series, so everything's great,» Scherzer said. «You've got to keep the glass half-full mentality to this.»

The 39-year-old right-hander said he got checked out by doctors right after the season and an MRI showed a little inflammation in his back. Scherzer said he started feeling better before experiencing nerve pain in his leg and then twice had epidural injections before another MRI revealed the herniated disk.

«I wasn't doing anything. Like I wish I could tell you that that was actually jumping off a boat or something crazy,» Scherzer said. «I'm literally hobbling around chasing kids. That was the most extent of what I was doing.»

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