HOUSTON — Justin Verlander will make his long-awaited season debut with the Astros on Friday against the Nationals in Washington, manager Joe Espada announced Wednesday. Verlander, who pitched a bullpen session Tuesday, pitched four innings Saturday in his final minor league rehab start for Double-A Corpus Christi.
“First and foremost is my health, and I [Saturday’s game] I feel good,” Verlander said. “Obviously, there’s some things to work on pitching-wise, but that’s kind of what spring training is about and what starting rehab is like. I felt better than last time. [rehab start] It used to be that way, so just keep building on it and doing what I always do, working on things in the bullpen in between and trying to make it work. ”
The Astros have five starting pitchers on the disabled list, so bringing Verlander back would be the first step toward making the rotation complete again. Verlander started 11 regular season games (68 innings) after the Mets traded him to Houston in July, posting a 7-3 record with a 3.31 ERA. He also started three games in the postseason before the Astros were eliminated by the Rangers in the American League Championship Series. .
“It’s good to have him back in the rotation, what that means for this club,” Espada said. “It’s just a matter of getting him back on track and getting some innings and filling out the rotation with the pieces we need moving forward. It’s exciting to have him back.”
Espada said he won’t set a specific pitch count for Verlander, but the team will be careful about how hard he pushes him.
“I know he wants to stay there and give us a chance to win, but we have to be careful how hard we push him early on,” Espada said.
There was more good news for the Astros on Wednesday. Espada said left-hander Framber Valdez, who has been on the IL since April 9 with elbow soreness, could also return to the rotation during the team’s next eight-game road trip.
“Things are going well for Framber,” he said.
The Astros announced on March 5 that Verlander would not be ready for the start of the regular season after suffering a shoulder problem before the start of camp and would start the season on injured reserve.
Verlander threw 65 pitches in his first rehab game at Triple-A Sugar Land on April 7, allowing seven runs (six earned) on seven hits and one walk over three innings.
For a veteran pitcher like Verlander, it’s difficult to judge whether he’s ready to pitch in a major league game based on the results of his rehab start, because doing the job is his primary goal. The minor league hitter sees this as a chance to measure himself against one of the best pitchers of this generation.
“You know, a lot of them are really aggressive,” he said. “It’s kind of famous that you get beat up a little bit when you start rehab. I think you have to look at things realistically. I wasn’t as deceitful as I wanted to be and I think that kind of shows. Really, [it’s] It’s the same thing we use for spring training. ”
The three-time Cy Young Award winner is in the second year of a two-year contract he signed with the Mets in the 2022 offseason. The contract includes a $35 million vesting option in 2025 if Verlander pitches 140 innings this season. If vested, New York State would pay half of the option.
