At 36, Verlander stays ahead in count
Ageless Astro ace’s All-Star start part of career renaissance
CLEVELAND — In the stadium where he started his Hall of Fame career, Justin Verlander will add another chapter of his renaissance. When he tosses the first pitch Tuesday night at Progressive Field, the 36-year-old Astros ace will become the oldest man to start an All-Star Game in 13 years.
Baseball has an uncanny ability to accentuate perspective. Its best players almost always come full circle, allowing them to reflect on what once was and what lies ahead.
“Having the opportunity to start another one at 36 years old — I don’t want to dwell on it, but all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to have that come to fruition and to be able to be out here and do this thing again means a lot to me,” said Verlander, an eight-time American League All-Star selection who has pitched in three previous Midsummer Classics and started the 2012 game as a Detroit Tiger.
He is the fifth Astros pitcher to start an All-Star Game and first since Dallas Keuchel in 2015. Starting behind Verlander will be three of his Astros teammates: third baseman Alex Bregman (who participated in Monday night’s Home Run Derby, losing his first-round matchup) and outfielders Michael Brantley and George Springer. The four AllStar starters are a franchise record.
American League manager Al
ex Cora informed Verlander of his decision Friday night. The two shared a dais Monday morning in a downtown Cleveland convention center.
“Little does he know,” Cora said, “I was here for his first (major) league start.”
The ballpark was called Jacobs Field then. Verlander was a premier prospect tasked with taking the Tigers to another level. His assignment began on the Fourth of July in 2005 against Cleveland.
The Indians scored three runs against him in the first. Verlander threw a wild pitch, walked a man and yielded two extra-base hits. On the 41st pitch, Cora grounded out to end a forgettable frame.
“He didn’t have a good inning,” Cora said with a smirk. “It wasn’t good, but now he’s here.”
Fourteen years later, Verlander resides in an elite echelon of performers. Only one active pitcher exceeds his 214 career victories and 2,859 strikeouts (the Yankees’ 38-year-old CC Sabathia, with 251 and 3,057, respectively), and Verlander and the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw are the 21st and 22nd pitchers to earn eight All Star selections. Nineteen of the other 20 are in the Hall of Fame.
Verlander’s longevity is remarkable. His style, modified by age and the Astros’ ample analytical data, remains impeccable. A core muscle injury in 2015 threatened to derail his career, one that has since ascended to unfathomable heights in Houston.
In 58 starts as an Astro, Verlander has a 2.55 ERA, with 0.849 walks/hits allowed per inning and 11.7 strikeouts nine innings. And although he has given up a major league-high 26 home runs this year, opponents are batting .168 against him, the lowest average in the majors. He has a 10-4 record and remains on pace to again toss 200 innings in an era when the feat is becoming increasingly archaic.
“He’s getting better,” said Cora, now the Red Sox skipper, “which sucks for us.”
As a 35-year-old, Verlander established a career high with 290 strikeouts last season. Had he not thrown in the Astros’ final game of the first half, he had a legitimate case to start that All-Star Game, too.
“It just doesn’t happen. It doesn’t fall in your lap. He’s had to put in a lot of work,” said pitcher Charlie Morton, a former Astros teammate who is an All-Star in his first season with the Tampa Bay Rays. “He’s had to better himself in every way over the years. You’re seeing a guy now who has a really good idea of who he is as a pitcher, what he’s trying to do with the baseball and how he scouts guys.
“The fact that he’s been able to get back from that core injury and the stuff that he’s throwing and coming out his hand now, combined with all that experience — you can tell he’s driven to be the best of all time.”
Morton teamed with Verlander for parts of two seasons. The Astros acquired Verlander in a frenzied last-minute deal two Augusts ago. The city was devastated by Hurricane Harvey and in need of reinvigoration. Verlander arrived to aid the town — one he will call home for at least two seasons beyond this one — and delivered by helping the Astros win the 2017 World Series.
“Being able to step in and help that city and organization win a championship was one of the most amazing things I’ve experienced in my career,” Verlander said. “Not only as a player but just a person. I think it connected myself to that city almost immediately. So to be here now and be on the mound with the Houston Astros logo on my chest, starting the game means a lot.”
Finally a World Series winner at 34, Verlander finished as Cy Young runner-up at 35 and, at 36, will be the American League’s AllStar starter again.
His results in his only previous All-Star start seven years ago were wretched. He yielded five earned runs and four hits to the National League in one inning. In hindsight, he shifts blame to former Tigers teammate Prince Fielder.
“Ver, Ver, Ver, throw a hundred,” Fielder begged from first base.
“OK, Prince, here we go,” Verlander said.
He reared back and got rocked. “That was back then,” Verlander said with a grin. “I don’t quite throw a hundred anymore.”
It rarely matters.