» Justin Verlander will start next week’s opener against Seattle, an assignment he would have missed had the season started on time.
Justin Verlander will be the Astros’ opening day starter when they host the Seattle Mariners on July 24, manager Dusty Baker confirmed Wednesday.
Verlander, who won his second American League Cy Young Award in 2019 after going 21-6 with 300 strikeouts and a 2.58 ERA, told the Chronicle in March “it would probably take a miracle for me to be back by opening day,” referencing his spring recovery from a lat injury and groin surgery.
But because baseball was shut down for more than three months, Verlander will be able to make the 12th opening-day start of his career.
Baker said Lance McCullers Jr. is “probably further ahead” than Zack Greinke in regard to starting the second game of the season-opening series. McCullers has impressed in intrasquad scrimmages during workouts, including throwing five shutout innings Tuesday.
“It hurt Greinke the other day when we couldn’t work out,” said Baker, referring to a Sunday session in which Astros pitchers were unable to participate.
Baker said Greinke could throw in Thursday’s intrasquad scrimmage.
Smith not in bullpen plans for this season
The Astros are planning as if veteran reliever Joe Smith will not play during the 2020 season. The team placed Smith on the restricted list Tuesday night as a procedural roster move, but as of Wednesday, he had not indicated to the organization his definitive plans for the 60-game season.
“He’s welcome to come back,” Baker said, “but right now we’re planning to go on without Joe. He’s a big part of this club. The guys miss Joe. But we know every man has to do what they have to do.”
Smith has not reported to summer camp out of “concerns for the safety of his family,” according to Baker and general manager James Click. Players can opt out of the 2020 season, but only those labeled “high-risk” will receive salary and service time.
Twelve MLB players have opted out of the 2020 season, a majority of whom are veterans with substantial career earnings. Smith is a 13-year major leaguer.
Smith has not publicly disclosed any condition that would label him as high-risk. He has shared publicly his mother’s battle with Huntington’s disease, a progressive neurological disorder that has no cure.
Smith re-signed with the Astros on a two-year, $8 million deal last winter. He missed the first half of the 2019 season after rupturing his Achilles tendon, but returned for a dominant run during the team’s playoff push. Smith finished last season with a 1.80 ERA in 25 innings.
Springer gets back after testing delay
Outfielder George Springer returnedy after missing Tuesday’s workout because of a delay in his COVID-19 testing results.
Springer missed Tuesday’s intrasquad scrimmage because of the delay, but the Astros are expected to conduct another scrimmage Thursday.
Pruitt expects to be ready by Week 2
While the Astros are still figuring out who will provide long relief work in 2020, one of the candidates is making his way back from a bone bruise in his right elbow.
Currently listed as day-to-day, Austin Pruitt said Wednesday he doesn’t expect to be ready for opening day July 24 against the Mariners but is “not too far behind,” expecting it will be a week into the season before he makes his 2020 debut with his hometown club. Pruitt has not thrown a bullpen session yet but expects to within the next week.
“It all happened during spring,” Pruitt said of the elbow injury. “I was kind of unusually sore in the back of my elbow, kind of triceps area. Something I haven’t really messed with. Then we had the quarantine and pandemic happen, so we had that time to throw, but I kind of wanted to figure it out. If something was wrong, I wanted to fix it, but it ended up just being just some inflammation. Now I’m kind of moving along, progressing.”
Pruitt, a College Park High School, Navarro College and University of Houston product who was traded to the Astros in January, was 3-0 with 39 strikeouts and a 4.40 ERA in 14 games for the Rays in 2019. He served as both a long reliever and starter for Tampa Bay after debuting with the team in 2017, going 12-8 with 147 strikeouts and a 4.87 ERA in three years with the Rays. His Rays tenure included 10 starts, two of which came in 2019.
The Astros have known commodities at the top of the pitching rotation in Verlander, Greinke, and McCullers, and Ryan Pressly and Roberto Osuna are expected to fill their usual late-inning roles. Pitching coach Brent Strom said Tuesday there is an abundance of options for middle and long relief pitching but no defined answers for who will fill those roles.
Pruitt sees himself figuring into the long relief role with a chance to build up into a starter, but he and Strom haven’t detailed plans for the 30-year-old righthander yet.
“Being with Tampa Bay, I’ve had that experience really for the past three years,” Pruitt said. “However I see fit, that’s kind of what I’m going to do.”
Aside from dealing with his injury, Pruitt took the MLB shutdown as an opportunity to spend time with his family, including a 16-month-old daughter.
Whenever Pruitt debuts, he’ll do so for a club he’s known all his life. The Woodlands native was a ninth-round draft pick out of UH in 2013.
“Came to the ballpark I wouldn’t say a lot, but we came to some games,” Pruitt said of past visits to Minute Maid Park. “Coming here for work every day is pretty surreal. It’s pretty cool.”