Justin VerlanderThe 20th major league season wasn’t one of his outstanding years as he now has a 4.53 ERA in 99 1/3 innings after his tough outing today (5 hits against the last national and 5 runs in 5 innings). In those numbers and 5.48 ERA Verlander released 90 1/3 frames during his injured 2024 season, it’s easy to speculate that time finally caught up with the future Hall of Fame.
But Verlander wants to move on, telling San Francisco Standard John Shea that he wants to return in 2026. This is not news, as Verlander had previously said he wanted to invest in the mid-1940s, when he turned 43 in February. However, he did attach some harm-related warnings to his plan, which makes sense, as Verlander has dealt with health issues in recent years.
“At this point in my career, if something goes wrong, I won’t fix the surgery or anything else,” Verlander said.I always understand that it might be, but I think I’ve shown some physical fitness this season. Things have started to get better and better when I have been to the mound. For me, it’s a good sign for all the work I did after my nerve damage last year, and it’s known to take a long time. The ball rolled in the right direction and I wanted to keep pitching. you will never know. It’s a fickle game, but I think these things are still there. ”
Last winter, the Giants signed Verlander to a year-long 15mm free agent deal as San Francisco chose to invest in Verlander’s history rather than a more direct struggle in 2024. In his first 52 innings, the right-hander had 4.33 ERAs in his first 52 innings and then paid about a month of play time in the announcer, from mid to mid-Mercedes, which he played for a month. Verlander’s overall output has been roughly the same since the 15-day return of Illinois, although it seems that he released a 2.66 ERA in 23 2/3 innings today, and he released a 23 2/3 innings before his clumsiness against Washington today.
While the lost months are not trivial, it is understandably more confident in his current health, which is more confident than he did last year when he was confined by early shoulder problems and then a nerve injury on his neck. Verlander admitted last September that he might have tried to recover too quickly from neck issues, and his lack of results allowed the Astros to remove him from the playoff roster. Relatively speaking, PEC pressure is a less serious injury, and if Verlander can do his best to explore the rewards next year if he can go well with the rest of 2025.
Given Verlander’s age, another one-year contract seems inevitable, and if he can’t turn things around in the rest of the Giants’ timeline, it could be an incredible number for two years. Aside from the bottom line era, Verlander’s Statcast numbers have disturbing shades of blue, strikeouts and below-average walking rates. The latter statistics are worth noting, as Verlander has not released below-average walking rates since 2017 – his 5.3 bb% was very impressive in the 2018-24 season.
Although the front desk focuses more on future performance than past results, Verlander’s performance is hard to ignore. He was still posting elite numbers until 2022, when he won his third professional Young Award to help lead Astros to the World Series (Verlander’s second lap). The right that year continued a lesser but impressive 2023 season, which allowed Verlander to deliver a 3.22 ERA with the Mets and Astros in 162 1/3 innings, and hasn’t recovered despite his strikeout rate dropping sharply this year.
Another team will likely sign Verlander to see if he can retake his old magic in the 43-year-old season. Playing for contenders will certainly be on Verlander’s priority list, so returning to San Francisco can depend on whether the former ace thinks the Giants are ready to make a turn in 2026 and play the playoffs. The Giants reportedly are willing to trade Verlander by the deadline, part of the team to bring some short-term contracts out.
There is no doubt that Verlander will head to Cooperstown when he ends up hanging on cleats, but sticking with another season will allow him to push his several historic rankings further. Verlander now has 3,503 careers when he hit the Nationals six strikeouts against the Nationals, making him the tenth pitcher in Major League Baseball history with a maximum rate of 3,500 hits.
