Justin Verlander

It appears that Justin Verlander's neck injury is more serious than the Houston Astros initially thought.

The Astros announced on Tuesday that Verlander has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 16, due to neck discomfort. The team scratched him from his scheduled start on June 15 against the Detroit Tigers in hopes of avoiding placing him on the IL, but it now looks like it was a necessity to shut him down.

In 10 starts this season, Verlander is 3-2 with a 3.95 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP and 51 strikeouts in 57.0 innings of work. However, he's been in a bit of a slump recently, allowing a combined eight earned runs over his past two starts. He had surrendered two or fewer earned runs in six of his first eight starts of the year.

The 41-year-old spoke about how his neck issues were affecting him when he spoke to reporters on Saturday.

"When I was out there, I felt like it wasn't really bothering me," Verlander said. "But when I go home and sit down and really think about it, I think it's too much of a coincidence and my mechanics were really thrown off."

The three-time AL Cy Young Award winner is the ace of an Astros staff that ranks 21st in MLB with a collective 4.20 ERA. Houston hasn't been the juggernaut it has been in recent years, as the team sits in a tie for second in the AL West with a 33-39 record.

The Astros announced that right-hander Nick Hernandez has been recalled from Triple-A to take Verlander's spot on the active roster. Hernandez has made two relief appearances this season and has a 1.93 ERA.

Houston will be opening a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday evening.

The Houston Astros scratched starter Justin Verlander ahead of Saturday's game against the Detroit Tigers because of a neck injury.

Verlander told reporters he's been dealing with pain for the last couple of weeks but does not anticipate landing on the injured list.

The 41-year-old is 3-2 with a 3.95 ERA and 1.21 WHIP this season. He's given up eight earned runs over his last 10 innings pitched while allowing 16 baserunners. The three-time Cy Young winner had not publicly mentioned issues with his neck before Saturday, but it's clear something was causing a downtick in performance.

"When I was out there, I felt like it wasn't really bothering me," Verlander said. "But when I go home and sit down and really think about it, I think it's too much of a coincidence and my mechanics were really thrown off."

Verlander gave up two or fewer runs in six of his first eight starts this season before struggling to start June.

Spencer Arrighetti will start in Verlander's place. The rookie righty is 3-5 with a 5.33 ERA and 1.62 WHIP this season.

Houston currently sits a disappointing 32-38 heading into Saturday's game against Detroit.

Houston Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander, who began the season on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation, will make his 2024 debut on Friday when his team hosts the Washington Nationals.

Houston manager Joe Espada told the news to reporters on Wednesday, per Kristie Rieken of the Associated Press.

"We've got to be careful how hard we push him early," Espada said regarding the 41-year-old Verlander. "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, who made his MLB debut in 2005, is a nine-time All-Star and three-time Cy Young winner. He went 13-8 with a 3.22 ERA for the New York Mets and Astros last season.

Verlander has made two rehab starts while ramping up for his debut. Last Saturday, Verlander allowed five earned runs and seven hits while striking out three in four innings for Double-A Corpus Christi. He threw 77 pitches (51 strikes).

On April 7, Verlander allowed six earned runs and struck out six in three-plus innings for Triple-A Sugar Land.

Obviously, neither rehab start stat line is ideal, although the key is to get him ramped up for his MLB debut.

"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 told reporters. "It's [good] for the morale and to get stuff started and moving in the right direction."

It's been a brutal start to the season for the Astros, who began Wednesday last in the AL West with a 6-13 record. They're also dealing with injuries in the rotation, with starters Framber Valdez and José Urquidy currently out right now.

Getting Verlander back certainly helps the team out as the Astros hope to engineer a turnaround.

Veteran pitcher Justin Verlander is nearing his season debut for the Houston Astros as he continues to recover from inflammation in his right shoulder.

Per ESPN, Astros manager Joe Espada announced on Monday that Verlander will throw a side session on Tuesday and if all goes well, he will make his first start of 2024 during this weekend's three-game series against the Washington Nationals.

Espada didn't specify which game Verlander will get the start. Houston's three-game set against Washington begins on Friday.

"He's in a good spot," Espada said. "He feels good. He feels confident. He wants to contribute. He knows that we need him on the mound, we need his presence and right now and he's right where he needs to be."

Verlander was placed on the injured list prior to the season after experiencing discomfort in his throwing shoulder. He made two rehabilitation starts this month, so he's trending in the right direction.

"Pitch count-wise, I think it's pretty close, and health-wise I bounced back all the ways I would like to have seen," Verlander told reporters. "Like we had talked about earlier kind of at length, some of the things that have been difficult for me to do are becoming easier and easier. So I feel like I've kind of checked all the boxes that need to be checked. And I do feel like I'm ready to step on the mound again, whether that's for us or somebody else. So that's again, their decision."

The 41-year-old admitted he wasn't happy with his rehab starts, as he allowed six earned runs in the first and five in the second. However, he believes the experiences helped prepare him for his return from the IL.

"You're not quite in season form," he said. "The only way to practice pitching at full speed is to actually go out there and do it. As much as I would like to, I can't practice full speed in the bullpen. It's just not possible. So you really hope that your body starts to sync things up when you're out there in a game and you learn from each time you're out there, and I think I'm doing just that."

Even though Houston Astros star Justin Verlander is making progress in his recovery from a shoulder injury, the three-time AL Cy Young winner won't be ready for the start of the regular season.

Astros manager Joe Espada announced on Tuesday that Verlander will begin the season on the injured list because he won't have enough time to build up his arm for a full workload before Opening Day.

This will mark the second consecutive season that Verlander starts on the injured list. He missed the first five weeks of the 2023 campaign due to a low-grade teres major strain.

When Verlander arrived at spring training on Feb. 14, he told reporters his throwing program was two weeks behind schedule because of a shoulder issue.

"I'm a little bit behind schedule now," Verlander said. "I had a little hiccup early on that's resolved itself, but I have to be really cautious at how I'm building up. I guess my body doesn't respond the same at 40 as it did at 25. I'm a couple of weeks behind."

There was some hope on Monday that Verlander would be ready for the start of the regular season. He threw a 60-pitch bullpen session without any issues.

"He walked off the mound feeling really good about his side," Espada said. "We'll see how he bounces back tomorrow and see where we go from there."

Even though Verlander won't be able to take the mound on Opening Day, the fact he was able to get through an entire throwing session without issue is a good sign that he may not miss much time.

Framber Valdez will likely get the start on Opening Day when the Astros host the New York Yankees on March 28.

Verlander returned to the Astros in August after a midseason trade with the New York Mets. The 41-year-old had a 3.31 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 68 innings over 11 starts after the deal.

After a shoulder injury put him behind schedule in spring training, Houston Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander believes he could be ready to go for Opening Day, though it will be tough.

"Verlander threw for the third time down here on Wednesday after a shoulder setback last month, and while he looked and felt fine, he admits to being behind schedule," the New York Post's Jon Heyman wrote. "Opening Day is in peril again. 'Not impossible,' he said, 'but it's going to be tight.'"

Verlander made 11 appearances for the Astros last season after a midseason trade from the New York Mets, posting a 3.31 ERA and notching 63 strikeouts in 68 innings.

While Verlander had a decent year between his time with the Mets and the Astros, his numbers were down from 2022, when he posted a league-best 1.75 ERA and 185 strikeouts in 28 starts to help lead Houston to a World Series and win his third Cy Young Award.

Verlander posted a 2.95 ERA in last year's playoffs, though the Astros fell to the eventual-champion Texas Rangers in the ALCS.

Now, the 41-year-old is looking to get healthy ahead of Opening Day and have a repeat of his 2022 season.

The pitching great has already had a storied career, but he's looking for another World Series with the Astros this year.

An anonymous New York Mets called ex-teammate (and now Houston Astros starting pitcher) a "diva" during a conversation with Mike Puma of the New York Post last August.

In an interview published Thursday morning with Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Verlander revealed that he spoke with ex-teammates to get their opinion on the matter, and everyone denied the take.

"Everyone I spoke to said, 'JV that's not the case,'" Verlander told Heyman.

Puma wrote that the anonymous Met recalled that Verlander "often complained about the Mets' analytics department, which he deemed inferior to the one that served him in Houston."

He also added that Verlander "was largely detached from teammates" and "didn't add to the team's identity."

Verlander admitted to Heyman that he wasn't "always the best teammate" during his time with the Detroit Tigers (2005-2017).

"I was like a horse with blinders on running a race. I'm in it. This is what it takes to be as great as I can be. Don't get in my way," Verlander said. "That didn't provide a lot of bulls--t time. If you weren't on that wavelength, we didn't connect."

Regardless of whether or not Verlander has been a good teammate through the years, there's no denying the future Hall of Famer's tremendous resume.

Verlander is a nine-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young winner and the 2011 American League MVP award winner. With 257 victories, Verlander also has an outside chance to become the first pitcher to join the 300-win club since Randy Johnson in 2009.

So it was with great fanfare that he joined the Mets on a two-year, $86.6 million deal in 2023. However, a team with World Series expectations struggled mightily, tore the roster apart at the trade deadline and finished with 75 wins. Verlander was traded back to his old team, the Houston Astros, on Aug. 1.

Two weeks later, the New York Post report dropped, and Verlander shortly posted this on X afterward.

Regardless of how things did or didn't go down and how his ex-teammates feel about him, New York and Verlander have gone their separate ways. Verlander is with Houston, looking to lead the team to its third World Series since 2017.

Meanwhile, the Mets are trying to bounce back from a tough 2023 season, with the hope that star players such as Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor can help them do so.