COMING SOON
Here's when Justin Verlander will make season debut for Astros
Apr 17, 2024, 1:51 pm
Welcome back, Justin! Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images.
Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander will make his season debut Friday night at the Washington Nationals.
Houston manager Joe Espada made the announcement Wednesday.
“Getting him back is huge because it brings a level of confidence to our team, a boost of confidence that we’re going to get someone who’s been an MVP, a Cy Young (winner) on the mound,” Espada said. “It's (good) for the morale and to get stuff started and moving in the right direction.”
The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder. He made two rehabilitation starts, the first for Triple-A Sugar Land on April 7 before Saturday’s start for Double-A Corpus Christi.
Espada wouldn't say how many pitches the 41-year-old would be limited to but said they'll keep an eye on his workload.
“We've got to be careful how hard we push him early,” Espada said. “I know he’s going to want to go and stay out there and give us an opportunity to win, but we've got to be cautious of how hard we push him early in the season.”
Verlander wasn’t thrilled with the results in his rehabilitation starts, but he said Monday that those games were valuable in getting him prepared to come off the IL.
He allowed seven hits and six runs — five earned — in four innings against Frisco on Saturday. He struck out three, walked one and threw 51 of 77 pitches for strikes.
Verlander allowed six earned runs and struck out six while pitching into the fourth inning for Sugar Land on April 7.
The Astros have gotten off to a tough start with Verlander and fellow starters Framber Valdez and José Urquidy on the injured list. They enter Wednesday's games last in the AL West with a 6-13 record.
Espada hopes Verlander can be the boost the team needs to get on track.
“It’s good to get him back in the rotation,” Espada said. “With what he means to this club just to get him back on track, getting some innings from him (to) build our rotation with the pieces that we need to move forward is exciting.”
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
To say this season has not started off well for the Astros is an understatement, for they currently sit in last place in the American League West with a 9-19 record.
That being said, there are still 134 games left to be played and Houston has everything they need to turn things around and get back to their winning ways.
Players returning from the injured list
The Astros began this season with multiple pitchers on the injured list including Justin Verlander, Jose Urquidy, Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. just to name a few. As time went on, other players saw time on the IL including Cristian Javier and Framber Valdez, thus forcing Houston to continuously adjust their rotation on the fly to mixed results.
Ronel Blanco (3-0) has been the one bright spot for the Astros so far. After throwing a no-hitter against the Blue Jays, the 30-year-old all but solidified his spot in the rotation and has arguably become Houston's best pitcher this year.
Other than Blanco, the Astros' rotation has struggled throughout much of this season, with pitchers Hunter Brown, J.P. France, Spencer Arrighetti and Blair Henley combining to have a 0-10 record and a 9.49 ERA through 54 innings pitched.
Things seem to be turning around as both Verlander and Valdez have returned to the rotation and look as if they are back to normal. More reinforcements could be arriving soon, as Javier and Urquidy have started to throw bullpen sessions, thus indicating their returns could happen in the near future.
Once these pitchers get healthy, an ideal scenario would be to have a rotation consisting of Verlander, Valdez, Blanco, Javier and Urquidy, with Hunter Brown moving to the bullpen or becoming the sixth starter if needed.
The Astros have the luxury of having a deep rotation once these players return to the team, which is necessary to turn this season around.
Consistent offense
One of the biggest challenges Houston has faced this year is scoring runs on a consistent basis.
For example, the Astros drove in the same amount of runs in their two outings against the Rockies over the weekend (20) as they did in their previous nine games against the Braves, Nationals, and Cubs combined.
On paper this offense shouldn’t be an issue, for Houston has the third-highest team batting average in the league behind only the Braves and Dodgers. And players such as Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez are playing up to their All-Star caliber levels.
Sure some guys like Alex Bregman, Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers have gotten off to slow starts, but those three can turn things around fast just as they have done in years past.
One reason for Houston’s offensive struggles has been Jose Abreu hitting a minuscule .099/.156/.113 thus far and will likely see less time on the field unless his numbers increase dramatically.
The 37-year-old is still owed roughly $16.25MM this season and $19.5MM in 2025, so cutting him and eating his salary doesn’t seem likely for the Astros at this time. But the team will certainly look at all of their options to get better offensive production at first base.
Jon Singleton has preformed better than Abreu this season, but most likely isn’t the long term answer either, considering he is batting only .238/.319/.286.
One solution the Astros will experiment with is calling up one of their top prospects, Joey Loperfido.
The 24-year-old had an impressive slash line of .276/.376/.684 in AAA through his first 117 plate appearances, and hit 13 homers as well.
In addition to his offense, Loperfido is a versatile athlete who can can play all three outfield positions, as well as second and first base.
It is likely the Astros will let the former Duke Blue Devil play some first in this upcoming series against the Guardians and hopefully give the team the offensive spark they need.
Other short-term options the Astros could try is to let either Mauricio Dubon, Victor Caratini, or Yanier Diaz play some first base this season.
None of these players would be the everyday solution, but they have some experience at the position and the capability to play first base.
Needless to say, the Astros do have multiple players who can play first, and replace Abreu if he doesn’t start to turn things around soon
As long as Houston can get their starters back healthy and their offense can score runs consistently, there is reason to believe this team can get back to their winning ways and make yet another playoff run and beyond.