Prized offseason acquisition Justin Verlander is nearing a return to MLB action as he continues to recover from a muscle strain which landed him on the IL to begin the year. Verlander told reporters Friday that he expects to be back well before the end of April.
Diagnosed with a low grade teres major strain in his shoulder, the veteran right hander believes that he is “really close to being able to take off the leash”. Verlander reportedly threw at 75% effort and is likely to begin a rehab assignment in the coming weeks. Though that’s currently up for debate as Verlander has lobbied against the idea of requiring a rehab stint.
“I feel like I really turned a corner a couple days ago,” Verlander said. “The general soreness I was having is really dissipating quickly. All positive signs. I’m just waiting for that to completely go away before I really step on the gas.”
While he’s technically eligible to come off the injured list on April 11th, both the Mets front office and manager Buck Showalter are preaching a cautious approach moving forward.
Few can blame them for taking such a stance, as Verlander is now 40 years old, and recently inked a 2 year $86.6M contract to join New York in December. With the season only 9 games deep, there’s no need to rush the future hall of famer back to action.
Coming off Tommy John surgery, the reigning Cy Young award winner posted one of the best statistical seasons of his storied career in 2022 registering a 1.75 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, with an 18-4 record.
In his absence, New York has turned to Max Scherzer, Tylor Megill, David Peterson, Carlos Carrasco, and Kodai Senga to hold down the fort. Following a disappointing sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers, the Mets have righted the ship and currently sit in 2nd place in the NL East with a 5-4 record.
New York is next in action against the Miami Marlins on April 9th where they’ll look to make it a clean sweep against their divisional rivals.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: D. Benjamin Miller. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.