{"id":34165,"date":"2020-07-11T21:38:09","date_gmt":"2020-07-12T01:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/?p=34165"},"modified":"2020-07-11T21:38:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-12T01:38:09","slug":"justin-verlander-eyes-pitching-for-several-more-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2020\/07\/11\/justin-verlander-eyes-pitching-for-several-more-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Verlander Eyes Pitching for Several More Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Justin Verlander Has Big Plans for Himself<\/h1>\n<p>This past week, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/houston-astros\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Houston Astros<\/a> starting pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/v\/verlaju01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Justin Verlander<\/strong><\/a> clarified his future plans in a big way. Verlander told Chandler Rome of The Houston Chronicle that he would like to pitch for several more years. Rome shared the exact tweet on Twitter regarding Verlander&#8217;s insight.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Justin Verlander: \u201cI changed a lot of stuff that some people would think was unnecessary. But I thought it was necessary, especially if I want to play eight or 10 more years.&quot; &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OSCUkUOMi5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/OSCUkUOMi5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chandler_Rome\/status\/1281389606940934145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 10, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As Verlander indicated, he has undergone mechanical changes the past few years. That likely played a big part in why the right-hander won the American League <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngcy01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Cy Young<\/strong><\/a> Award last year. Furthermore, since being traded to the Astros from the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/detroit-tigers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Detroit Tigers<\/a>, Verlander has been the most impactful pitcher for Houston.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, last season Verlander was so impactful with the Astros, that he finished the season with 300 strikeouts. In addition, he concluded the regular season with the &#8220;third-lowest WHIP in modern-day history.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Although, Verlander <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/texas-sports-nation\/astros\/article\/Mechanical-overhaul-has-Astros-Justin-15398293.php\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told<\/a> Rome that he &#8220;watched his fastball velocity dip and felt his pitching mechanics gradually change.&#8221; As a result, the 37-year old wants to make the necessary changes now to have an impact later on down the road.<\/p>\n<h2>Deep Dive into Justin Verlander&#8217;s Mechanics and 2020 Role<\/h2>\n<p>Heading into this coming season, Verlander will be the primary ace of the Houston Astros staff. Since the 2018 season, Verlander had former Astros starting pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/colege01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Gerrit Cole<\/strong><\/a> helping him anchor down the top of the rotation. Now that Cole has departed Houston and went to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/mlb-teams\/new-york-yankees\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York Yankees<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/2019\/12\/10\/new-york-yankees-signs-gerrit-cole\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">free agency<\/a>, Verlander is now solely at the top.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, according to the Steamer Model conducted by FanGraphs, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fangraphs.com\/players\/justin-verlander\/8700\/stats?position=P\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Verlander<\/a> is poised to finish the coming season with a 3.47 ERA over 68.0 innings of work. Furthermore, that model predicts he will finish with 89 strikeouts while holding opponents to a .215 Batting Average Against over that sample.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond all of that, it remains unclear exactly how the changes to Verlander&#8217;s mechanics could alter his pitch repertoire. However, some of the data from the 2019 regular season could offer a glimpse into Verlander&#8217;s overall pitch repertoire. According to Baseball Savant, <a href=\"https:\/\/baseballsavant.mlb.com\/savant-player\/justin-verlander-434378?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Verlander<\/a> was a primary four-seam fastball pitcher last year. He threw that pitch 49.9% of the time.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Verlander relied on his slider 28.7%, curveball 17.3%, and changeup 4.2% of the time. Compared to the 2018 regular season, the overall amount of each pitch changed. For example, in 2018 Verlander threw his fastball 61.2% of the time. Additionally, the right-hander increased the amount he threw his slider from 22.3% in 2018 to the aforementioned 28.7%.<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead to the future, it&#8217;s hard to decipher exactly what changes Verlander might make to those percentages. Although, it is very clear that he has his eyes set on making the necessary changes to prolong his health and ensure that he is pitch well into his mid-40&#8217;s. If that indeed happens, then Verlander could very well be on his way to writing quite a legacy in the history books.<\/p>\n<p>Main Image<br \/>\n<a id=\"EIc8pAehSwhm9YUxaowOaA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1255077214\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'EIc8pAehSwhm9YUxaowOaA',sig:'YY64EA691hWv7BDqR3QVHPfrdAejwAPpaFRtUbjlHUc=',w:'573px',h:'594px',items:'1255077214',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Justin Verlander Has Big Plans for Himself This past week, Houston Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander clarified his future plans in a big way. Verlander told Chandler Rome of The Houston Chronicle that he would like to pitch for several more years. Rome shared the exact tweet on Twitter regarding Verlander&#8217;s insight. Justin Verlander: \u201cI [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3320,"featured_media":34172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1071,35],"tags":[246,247,941,69],"class_list":["post-34165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-astros","category-mlb","category-news","tag-houston-astros","tag-justin-verlander","tag-latest-mlb-news","tag-mlb"],"modified_by":"Jared Cantatore","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}