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With San Francisco Giants star Justin Verlander coming off paternity leave just recently, the pitcher is ready to turn his season around and go back to his elite ways. As the Giants look to improve through the trade deadline, the team also looks for improvement from the players currently on the roster, including Verlander, as the veteran believes a breakthrough is coming.
While Verlander hasn't been horrid, he currently has a 4.26 ERA, 55 strikeouts, and a disappointing record of 0-5, being winless through 13 starts, which, according to The Athletic, it's the longest streak in franchise history since at least 1901. His season was also struck by having a strained right pec that kept him out almost a month, but now, Verlander feels that he has “found something mechanically.”
“I feel like I kind of found something mechanically,” Verlander said. “I’m hopeful it’s going to allow me to pitch the way I feel I still can. I’m still throwing 94-95 pretty consistently. I know that’s good enough to have success. I just need to find a way to make it click. That’s what I’ve been searching for.”
The 42-year-old has cemented himself as one of the best pitchers in recent memory and looks to continue that level of production in the twilight years of his career.
Giants' Justin Verlander is still looking for his first win of the season
After the Giants signed Verlander to a one-year deal, the team seemed to know the risks with the pitcher currently in his 20th season in the majors. However, Verlander hasn't been this confident all year long that there is a light at the end of the tunnel in regards to his underwhelming season, believing that with the injury and small sample size, a “drastic decision” can't be made.
“I was hurt for a month. It’s still a small sample size. You can’t make a drastic decision based on that,” Verlander said. “You just try to pitch better, and hopefully the wins will follow. You’ve got to be pretty objective. Yeah, I’ve given us some chances. But I need to pitch better. I do think I’m capable of that. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t still be playing.”
However, Verlander's statistics haven't been encouraging, though there is always room for improvement as his average fastball velocity is below league average (93.9 mph) and his strikeout rate (26th percentile) is jading, per The Athletic. Still, the star believes that before the injury, he was pitching better.
“I do, actually, I really do,” Verlander said. “I was starting to pitch a little bit better before I got hurt. Particularly right now, I feel like I’m on to something mechanically. I’ll find out here soon.”
At any rate, Verlander will start on Friday against the Athletics and try to prove he's still on an elite level and look for his first win of the season.
