The Houston Astros are in the thick of a division race with the Seattle Mariners. The team reinforced its rotation when the Astros landed starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi at the MLB trade deadline. Now Houston hopes to get Justin Verlander back from injury.
Verlander hit the 15-day injured list on June 19th with neck stiffness and has been on the shelf for nearly two months. However, the 19-year veteran has been progressing in his rehab and he’s learned some valuable lessons about his posture along the way, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart.
“You end up getting in some compensatory positions you don’t even realize you’re in until something happens … So this brought a lot of awareness to my posture and I feel like it’s been very beneficial, especially to my mechanics,” Verlander explained via McTaggart.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner has missed time with a couple IL stints in 2024. He began the year on the 15-day injured list with a shoulder ailment, which pushed his season debut back to April 19. That, combined with his current injury, has limited Verlander to just 10 starts so far this season for the Astros.
Still the decorated veteran has pitched fairly well for Houston when healthy, posting a 3-2 record with a 3.95 ERA, 1.211 WHIP and 8.1 K/9. He’s up to 0.7 WAR in 57 innings this year. The Astros anticipate Verlander making a start for the team’s Triple-A affiliate this weekend, the next step in his rehab.
Astros’ ace Justin Verlander is wiser after injury
The team enters play on Wednesday half a game behind the first-place Seattle Mariners in the AL West. However, the Astros’ best chance of making the playoffs is by winning the division as Houston is four games back in the American League Wild Card standings and would need to overtake the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals to claim the final postseason berth.
Since Verlander last took the mound on June 9 the Astros’ starting pitchers have performed well, ranking top five in baseball in ERA (fourth), strikeouts (second), batting average against (second) and WPA (fourth).
Of course, getting the former MVP back in the rotation would be a boost for the team as they make a second-half push for the postseason. Verlander received positive injury news when he was cleared to throw in the bullpen at the end of July. The team hopes his new understanding of his body will help keep him on the field.
“As I fix my neck posture, my back posture, it’s given me some more mobility in my arms, [scapula], upper back, and I feel a little bit more free and easy than I did before the injury,” Verlander noted per McTaggart. “I try to be positive about it. Obviously, you never want to have an injury, but the only thing you can do is learn and move forward,” he said.
The Astros have gone just 8-9 since the All-Star break entering play on Wednesday. Fortunately for Houston, the Mariners have also been mediocre since the All-Star game, putting up a 7-9 record and failing to build a significant lead in the division.
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