Justin verlander will join lance mccullers jr. and luis garcia on the injured list, according to houston astros beat writer brian mctaggart on tuesday.
Verlander was the astros’ presumptive opening day starter, but manager joe espada said he didn’t have enough time to get him ready for the season’s first game on march 28 after suffering “a little hiccup” in his preseason routine.
“He needs to see live batting practice, he needs to hit certain miles per hour on his sides and live bps,” houston’s first-year manager said. “we want to make sure we do it correctly and not quickly.” We need him for the long haul. We have a long season ahead of us, and we need a strong j.v..
Throughout the season, there are many opportunities to enjoy nature. In the next few weeks, the plan is to build him up here, and he shouldn’t have to waste too much time.” Despite espada’s optimistic promises, astros fans should be concerned.
Verlander, 41, has 509 starts in his 19-year career, throwing over 200 innings in 12 of those seasons. He hasn’t pitched a full season since 2019, and this is his third season in a row.
He was sidelined for the first few games of the 2022 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He had back and shoulder problems last season.
Despite this, he started at least 27 games in each of the two campaigns, and in 2022 he had the lowest ERA (1.75) of any MLB starting pitcher. Although that figure increased to 3.22 in 2023—still excellent for seventh in MLB—it may point to a concerning pattern for the three-time Cy Young champion.
As long as Verlander stays healthy, he will undoubtedly be regarded as one of the best pitchers unless he proves different. It is reasonable for Houston supporters to begin to worry about the frequency of it.
