The San Francisco Giants are battling to secure their place at the top of the highly competitive National League West division. After a disappointing season last year, the team underwent a major transformation, with franchise legend Buster Posey being appointed as the new president of baseball operations. One of the first major moves Posey made was acquiring three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander. The 42-year-old pitcher has made 10 starts for the Giants this season, posting a respectable 4.33 ERA over 52 innings. After dealing with years of injuries, it seemed Verlander had finally found a way to stay healthy and effective in his 20th season in the majors, but the team received some troubling news following his most recent start.
“Verlander won’t detail what he was dealing with but he wasn’t totally right physically,” the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser reported, shortly after Verlander lasted just four innings against the Athletics. “He said the coaches and trainers knew it was nothing that would create more problems. His velocity was down 3 mph.”
Following the game, manager Bob Melvin directed questions about the injury to Verlander, who would not provide more detail on which part of his body felt injured. And while the pitcher said he was “optimistic” that he’d be making his next scheduled start, there is reason for concern. “Verlander was limited to 17 starts last year in Houston because of right shoulder inflammation and neck discomfort, but there have been no hiccups in his first season in San Francisco, at least until Sunday,” Alex Pavlovic wrote for NBC Sports. “The oldest player in the big leagues has thrown well in recent weeks, but on Sunday it was about limiting damage.” After logging nearly 3,500 innings in his career, any setback for Verlander seems like a real reason for concern in San Francisco. There is still some mystery surrounding this latest injury but the Giants might need to start planning for a missed start.
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