Justin Verlander Shouldn't Be Able To Do This...

this ball drilled deep to right field and josh reddick has just given the astro on september 28 2019 the astros scored five unanswered runs via two home runs eventually beating the angels 6-3 this was the astros 106th win of the season which didn't really matter to a team that had been sitting in first place since the end of april however the biggest story of the night wasn't from the hitters it was from starting pitcher justin verlander swinging a miss ball gets away that's 3 000 strikeouts that calhoun's going to reach [Applause] strikeout number 300 for justin berlander a dozen in the game another milestone in that hall of fame career for jv in his final start of 2019 verlander became the 18th pitcher in mlb history to reach 3 000 career strikeouts kind of an anticlimactic way to reach the achievement but still history nonetheless a couple innings later cole calhoun struck out once again this time it was for verlander's 300th strikeout of the season yes at 36 years old justin verlander threw 300 strikeouts in a season since 1900 on only four different occasions has a pitcher at least 36 years old thrown 300 strikeouts in a season randy johnson did it twice nolan ryan did it at age 42 and then there's verlander who has something in common with randy johnson because along with throwing 300 strikeouts he also won the ael cyoung award nearly a decade after his 2011 mvp cy young season verlander became only the 21st pitcher in history to win multiple cy young awards with garrett cole signing with the yankees ahead of the 2020 season the astros were left with one ace but after one start verlander was shut down with a forearm strain and not too long after it was announced the 37 year old verlander needed tommy john surgery expected return date 2022 as only the 10th pitcher to undergo tommy john's surgery at age 37 or older the question was whether verlander would ever be the same again verlander's confidence in his return was unwavering saying he'd approach rehab the only way he knew how attack and don't look back well at this point in 2022 39 year old verlander is using this same philosophy against major league batters and it's like he's never left this video is brought to you by out of the park baseball 23 a series i've played for many years out of the park baseball 23 is the newest entrant in the beloved baseball management series also known as the infinite baseball sandbox with full licenses by mlb mlb players inc and kbo every team including minor league teams are fully filled with real players franchise mode is the gold standard of sports strategy simulation titles used by real mlb managers and gms to help them run their real world teams including giants manager gabe kapler and twins manager rocco beldelli boston red sox owner john henry plays the game every year and called the game an outstanding achievement and how could it not be you can run any franchise from the late 1800s to 2022 using a fully stocked historical database of teams and players create any baseball related scenario you've ever imagined whether it be through on-field decisions and strategies or running the entire front office and everything in between then there's perfect team mode a persistent online competitive game where players build their own customized teams and work towards creating their own dream squad users pull player cards from packs to create their teams and then battle against other users from around the world for rewards special items and real world trophies and championship belts delivered to the winners all of this is an out of the park baseball 23. start making history today since his 2006 rookie of the year season verlander has built a legacy as one of modern baseball's best pitchers since 2006 among pitchers who've thrown at least 1 000 career strikeouts verlander is among the best in basically every pitching stat you can think of he's just had an incredible career an mvp and cy young in the same season numerous top 5 cy young finishes multiple no-hitters and of course the saiyong award at age 36. verlander will go into the hall of fame with a tiger's logo on his plaque but his astros tenure has been nothing short of impressive verlander was traded to the astros at age 34 and he won his second sai young at age 36. throughout mlb history between the ages of 34 and 36 only two other pitchers match or exceed verlander's era plus those pictures are randy johnson and roger clemens verlander's the definition of longevity as he didn't have his first ielts stint until 2015 which made the announcement of tommy john's surgery that more shocking could this really be the abrupt end of a hall of fame career maybe but there's one thing to remember this is justin verlander during his prime verlander could easily throw 100 miles per hour deep into games former tigers manager jim leland said that the best game he'd ever seen verlander pitch was a game in 2009 where he witnessed verlander throwing 100 miles per hour in the 8th inning since 2000 no pitcher has averaged as many pitches per start as justin verlander but it's his unique ability to seemingly throw harder late in games that makes him so incredible to really understand what i mean by this let's look back at the game leland was talking about in the eighth ending the first batter verlander faced was jacoby elsberry who was coincidentally the player verlander beat for the almvp two seasons later anyway each fastball he threw was 95 miles per hour until elsberry squared one up into the gap for a double with only a two run lead and over 100 pitches thrown verlander has to dig deep to get out of this jam first batter a rookie josh reddick verlander starts with 97 miles per hour already faster than what he was throwing to ellsbury then he throws 97 again followed by 98 98 again and a 98 again for the strikeout next batter victor martinez an all-star who entered the game with an 824 ops verlander starts off the at-bat with a 98 miles per hour fastball after a mound visit verlander threw another fastball this time it was 97 for the strike after yet another mound visit martinez popped up a 98 miles per hour fastball for the out so far verlander has only thrown fastball since giving up that double but to get out of the inning verlander had to face another all-star and boston's hottest hitter jason bay who entered the game with a 9-14 ops verlander didn't seem to care as he threw 99 right past him it was a ball but the next pitch was 99 right down the middle to even the count then verlander threw 99 again for the swinging strike okay you could probably see where this is going but how could verlander make this tougher for bay 100 miles per hour on pitch 122. i mean seriously who else does this no breaking balls have been thrown at all in this inning so how is verlander going to approach this final pitch [Applause] strike shot bay wow and this is why justin verlander is one of a kind okay so we know how great verlander was in detroit and it's clear he brought his talent over to houston but what did he do in order to become a cy young winner at age 36 well he reinvented himself we've talked about verolander's fastball but he's also got some great secondary pitches notably a slider and curveball for the majority of his career verlander's most trusted secondary pitch was a toss-up between his curveball and his changeup however as his curveball and change-up usage rates flip-flopped over the years his slider rate slowly kept rising by 2015 the slider had overtaken the curveball and changeup as verlander's most trusted secondary pitch then in his first full season in an astro's uniform verlander's changeup had essentially been phased out and his slider reached a career-high usage rate however 2019 was a bit different for the first time in his career verlander's forcing fastball usage fell below 50 percent while the slider curveball and changeup rates all increased however even though he was throwing less fastballs his strikeout rate walk rate and whip all remained elite fast forward three years and we got verlander today 39 years old coming off tommy john's surgery but still dominating opposing hitters a few years ago you'd see verlander at the top of strikeout rankings today is a bit different but in terms of not allowing batters to reach base and score verlander is still among the best if the season ended today verlander's era plus would rank 5th all time among starting pitchers that are at least 39 years old there's been a few notable performances by verlander this season but the one that feels most like vintage verlander is his start against the mariners on june 7th this is verlander's highest pitch count of the season so far andy threw a season-high 12 strikeouts to go with it he didn't throw 100 miles per hour in the 7th inning but throwing between 96 and 97 as late as the seventh inning as a 39 year old is very impressive also this game truly displayed just how effective verlander's secondary pitches are as 10 out of these 12 strikeouts were on the curveball or slider which continues a trend verlander started in his recent cy young season in 2019 the amount of strikeouts verlander had on sliders surpassed the amount of fastball strikeouts something he did with his curveball back in 2008 and 2011. a decade later verlander is now doing it with his slider but trends suggests both his slider and curveball could surpass his forcing fastball and strikeouts this season although something worth mentioning is that verlander's strikeout rate is back to what it looked like when he was with the tigers a possible reason for this is the drastic decrease in spin rate on his three main pitches the amount of spin on a pitch changes its trajectory so if you look at two different 95 miles per hour fastballs the one with a higher spin rate is going to have more movement which makes it harder for batters to make good contact since the beginning of the stack cast era verlander's spin rate has always been elite reaching its peak in 2018. today it's still very good but not what it was just a few seasons ago now the elephant in the room is whether the sticky stuff ban from 2021 is the reason for this decrease whether it is or not what matters is the decrease has happened which is likely a factor why verlander is throwing less strikeouts but a decade ago verlander wanted mvp and cy young with essentially the same strikeout rate the similarities in walk rate hit rate and whip suggest verlander still has lots going for him it's clear that the current astros defense is much better than who verlander played with in the early 2010s today if a ball goes into play verlander has one of the best defenses in the league behind him and just skimming over some of these stat lines from the first few months of the season it's clear verlander has been excelling and sure you can look at the percentile rankings and factor in the fip and expected era even then i would trust verlander at the top of my rotation also i imagine verlander is going to maintain a spot at the top or near the top of a rotation for many years to come back in 2018 verlander said he'd like to retire at age 45 which would be in 2028 a couple months ago verlander was asked a similar question but he said he didn't want to put a number on it and just wanted to pitch as long as possible it wouldn't surprise me if verlander ends up on an innings limit towards the end of the season if the astros are in playoff contention but in the meantime he'll continue to climb up the win and strikeout leaderboards until his legendary career comes to a close verlander is truly one of a kind and if there's anyone that can win a cy young after tommy john's surgery so late in their career it's justin verlander whether he will remains a mystery but at the very least let's appreciate his talent while he's still on the mound i hope you guys enjoyed the video leave a like if you did and subscribe for more content just like this thanks for watching [Music]

Channel: SportStorm

Views: 66,403

Keywords: justin verlander, justin verlander 2022, justin verlander astros, justin verlander tigers, justin verlander 2011 cy young, justin verlander 2011 mvp, justin verlander 2019, justin verlander 2011, justin verlander cy young, justin verlander 2019 cy young, justin verlander mvp, sportstorm

Id: Cpd2z8Nteqc

Length: 13min 11sec (791 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 23 2022