Jacob deGrom dialing it back in hopes of staying healthy this time

The Jacob deGrom the Yankees see on Wednesday will not be the same Jacob deGrom who dominated to virtually unparalleled levels across town.

The former Mets ace is dialing it back.

One of the most gifted pitchers in baseball history is no longer pushing his gifts to the limit.

Having snapped too many times, he has sought an excellence that can be sustained.

“Looking at what’s probably best for me and staying out there,” deGrom said before the Yankees’ 5-2 series-opening win over the Rangers in The Bronx, “is try to pitch a little bit smarter.”

That has meant throwing more changeups and curveballs, no longer maximizing his filthy fastball-slider combination.

And critically that has meant attempting to beat teams without breaking himself or radar guns.

In his most overpowering seasons with the Mets — which rank as some of the most overpowering seasons for any pitcher of all time — he reached back repeatedly.

His four-seamer climbed to heights more reserved for one-inning relievers, his fastball averaging 99.2 mph in an absurd 2021 season that ended with a 1.08 ERA.

That year also ended after just 15 starts because of a forearm strain and UCL inflammation.

His next season, the last one with the Mets, did not begin until August because of a stress fracture in his right scapula. When he returned, he looked like himself with a fastball that averaged 98.9 mph.

The Rangers, so entranced by his pure stuff, successfully recruited him with $185 million over five years despite the fact he had made 26 starts total in his previous two seasons.

He started six games with Texas in 2023 — averaging 98.7 mph with his fastball — before blowing out his elbow and requiring a second Tommy John surgery.

He has successfully returned and intentionally not brought back his fastest fastball.

A more thoughtful and less forceful deGrom has averaged 97 mph on the four-seamer, still difficult to hit but he hopes easier for his arm to withstand.

“Now it’s just more: Hey, try to hit the glove,” said the 36-year-old, “be smart with it and go from there.”

The results have reflected the fact that his stuff is elite, if lesser.

He is pitching more to contact, striking out 53 in 51 innings. He is pitching well, owning a 2.29 ERA.

He might not be pitching, though, like the most untouchable pitcher in MLB history, a title that deGrom at his best may hold.

His years atop the Mets rotation — including back-to-back Cy Young years in 2018 and ’19, when he pitched to a combined 2.05 ERA while striking out 11.2 per nine inning — were historic.

These days, he might be settling for mere greatness.

“Almost like catching a video game,” said former Yankees and current Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka. “Just put the glove up there and that’s where the ball goes and it’s like 100 mph.”

Like 100 mph, but zero of his pitches have reached triple digits this season.

And through mid-May, deGrom has made every one of his starts.

He built what might be a Hall of Fame career on the back of an unrivaled peak that made him the game’s best pitcher and among the game’s most fragile pitchers.

Does he wonder what his career would look like if he reached this epiphany sooner?

“You can’t live with the what-ifs,” deGrom said in the visiting clubhouse. “I never really thought about it, because every time I took the ball, the goal was to win. I still take it that way.

“I was younger at that time and felt like I could do it. Now it’s trying to be smart and continue pitching for quite a while.”

The Rangers do not visit Queens until September, and deGrom hopes to still be pitching then.

He hasn’t exceeded 15 starts in one season since 2019.

Returning to New York, he acknowledged, was “weird,” and he has memories of his major league debut during a Subway Series game in 2014.

“Normally when I would play the Yankees, I was staying at my apartment or whatever,” deGrom said. “So first time going to a hotel and busing in, that was definitely different.”

— Additional reporting by Dan Martin