Jacob deGrom made a dominant impression in his first spring start as he threw 15 pitches in the first inning while striking out the side.

He struck out Jake Marisnick on three straight fastballs, got Tony Kemp looking on a full count, and then got Alex Bregman on a check-swing all while keeping his fastball between the 95-97 MPH regularly and topping out at 98 MPH.

His second inning did not go as well. He gave up a leadoff single to Marwin Gonzalez and then walked Evan Gattis. A.J. Reed then followed suit with a single of his own to load the bases with nobody out.

Tyler White and Kyle Tucker both drove in runs afterward on sacrifice flies. He was able to escape trouble, though, as he got Garrett Stubbs to ground out.

deGrom proceeded to start the third inning and struck out Marisnick for the second time on another fastball, this time swinging. Kemp hit a deep fly ball in the next at-bat, but Brandon Nimmo was able to corral it. deGrom was removed from the game and replaced by Paul Sewald.

In total, the right-hander threw 47 pitches in 2.2 innings pitched while allowing two runs on two hits and one walk. He struck out four batters as well.

deGrom spoke with Keith Hernandez and Wayne Randazzo during the game and said he will “throw a bullpen in two days and be back out there in five.”

He also said one of his main focuses today was to work on keeping his legs closed as he noticed he was stepping out in the past couple of seasons.

The righty then proceeded to talk to the press in the clubhouse and said his back “hasn’t hurt since Anniston (his daughter) was born.”

He said this regarding his performance today:

“I had a lot of adrenaline in the first inning, but in the second inning I started getting a little quick to home plate so I was having a little harder time locating, but like I said its a work in progress and the main thing is that I felt good.”

The 29-year old went 15-10 with a 3.53 ERA and 3.50 FIP last season. In 201.1 innings he struck out 239 and walked 59, pitching to a 1.187 WHIP. He finished 8th in Cy Young Award voting.