SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The San Francisco Giants clubhouse is nearly empty Wednesday afternoon when Justin Verlander plops down in front of his corner locker covered in sweat, and emotions seeping from his soul.
He just pitched his first batting practice of the spring, dominating hitters with his fastball, showing bite on his breaking balls, mixing in changeups and leaving the Giants’ scouts and executives almost stunned at how good he looked.
“It’s not the first time I’ve been doubted,’ Verlander told USA TODAY Sports with a laugh.
This is Verlander’s 20th season in the major leagues. He’ll turn 42 years old on Thursday. And one day, Verlander, who has three Cy Youngs, an MVP, two World Series championships, two ERA titles and nine All-Star appearances, will be immortalized in Cooperstown.
He certainly has nothing left to prove as one of the greatest pitchers of his generation, but is driven to become baseball’s first 300-game winner since Randy Johnson in 2009, and only the 25th in baseball history.
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And, in all likelihood, he would be the last.
“I don’t think anyone would reach 300 again,’ Verlander says. “I don’t even know if 250 will ever be done again.’
Verlander, who has 262 career victories, isn’t going to hang on just to reach the milestone. He is just two seasons removed from winning the Cy Young award in 2022 when he went 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA, leading the Houston Astros to the World Series title.
He’s healthy again, feeling the best he has in years, and sees no reason he can’t dominate once again.
“Look, I don’t want to go out there and make a fool out of myself, you know,’ Verlander says. “But being able to pitch 20 years in this game and to be able to do something that makes me happy every day. Hey, as long as I still have that fire to play, and as long as I’m willing to put in the work that is required to go out there and compete, then I don’t see why I wouldn’t want to.’
But Verlander doesn’t want to win 300 games simply for a sentence on his Hall of Fame plaque. If he hears another person saying that wins are overrated for starting pitchers, he’ll scream. You kidding? Wins mean everything to starting pitchers, don’t let anyone fool you.
“Obviously, you want to win every game you pitch,’ says teammate and fellow Cy Young winner Robbie Ray. “You’re going out there trying to win. You’re not going out there to get a no-decision.
“Wins are a reflection of how you pitch. They’re definitely important. If you’re winning ballgames, it means the team is winning. You’re getting deep into games. So, it means you’re doing your job the way you’re supposed to be doing it.
“So, for a guy to win 262 games, he might be the last guy to ever have a chance to do something like this.’
While Verlander is enormously proud of his achievements, he wants it to have a lasting effect. He doesn’t want 300 victories to be unattainable for future generations. He wants it to be the gold standard, something that pitchers and teams should try to achieve – even if it means making significant rule changes.
“We used to make fun of guys for going five-and-fly,’ Verlander says. “Now, it’s the standard.’
There were only 28 complete games in the major leagues last season, the lowest in baseball history. There were 622 in 1988. There have been only three 20-game winners since Verlander and Gerrit Cole won 20 games in 2019, none in the American League. Pitchers averaged just 5.22 innings per start last year, barely long enough to qualify for a win.
“There are times you end up being lucky or unlucky loss-wise,’ Verlander said, “but devaluing the win is just another way that analytics are trying to not value something that they have a hard time quantifying. The best pitchers win more games. They go deeper in the game. They have more opportunities to win games. It’s like a lost art.
“When I look back at my tenure in Detroit, when I’m doing 250 innings, you know what that means for the bullpen for the day, before and after. You’re affecting at least three games, hopefully more than that.’
Verlander pitched at least 200 innings in eight consecutive seasons and has led the league in innings pitched four times in his career. Sometimes, he might have given up three or four runs, but he still went seven innings, knowing he did his job.
But nothing replaces that feeling of being the pitcher with a “W’ next to your name in the boxscore.
“Talk to almost any starting pitcher,’ Verlander says. “How do you feel after you win compared to a loss or no-decision? It’s easier to write off a loss when you know you do well and give up one or two runs and say, ‘I gave us a chance.’ But I’d rather go seven, give up three and win.
“We’re here to win.’
Starting pitchers ‘devalued’
These days, pitchers are coming out before facing a lineup for the third time. Pitchers are leaving games if their pitch count is approaching 100. Pitchers are coming out at the first sign of trouble.
“As long as the starting pitchers continue to be devalued and they only throw four or five innings a game,’ Verlander says, “then the win doesn’t mean anything. They just go through a rotating door of relievers who throw 100, but they don’t care if they break because they have another reliever in Triple-A who also throws 100.
“It’s not good for anybody. It’s not good for the relievers who are getting abused. It’s certainly not good for the starter who doesn’t ever learn how to pitch and is also getting abused because they’re asking to throw as hard as he can for as long as he can. The domino effect is not good.
“No offense, it’s where the game has gone. It’s what these kids are taught and being asked to do. If that’s what’s being asked, and what’s getting guys paid and getting guys jobs, that’s what guys are going to do.
“So, that’s why I think Major League Baseball has to really sit back and look at this and ask if this the direction that we want the game to go in.’
Maybe it will take MLB getting creative. Why not make a rule where starting pitchers have to throw at least 100 pitches or last five or more innings? Penalize teams whose pitchers can’t go deep into games. Take away their DH.
The Los Angeles Dodgers employed nine “bullpen games’ in the postseason since 2019, including four times last year during their World Series run. The Detroit Tigers used ace Tarik Skubal in Game 1, and then seven relief pitchers in Game 2 to stun the Houston Astros and Verlander in the best-of-three wild-card series.
“I think there needs to be rules put in place,’ Verlander says. “It’s the only way you can put the genie back in the bottle. You want to have some marquee pitchers who last more than five years. You’re going to have to change the rules. You got to make the teams adjust or it’s going to get worse. …
“You need to put rules in as to what a starting pitcher is defined as. Teams will start teaching guys how to pitch if the rules dictate that you have to go through the lineup a certain amount of times, or you can’t be pulled the second you’re in trouble … There’s a whole litany of rules and guidelines that you can put in.’
Who knows, maybe one day managers will actually permit their pitchers to go deep into games without grimacing. Maybe if you have a no-hitter through seven innings you’ll actually be allowed to have a shot at history?
“The main problem is a guy’s throwing 75 pitches, he’s gone through five innings, it’s a 1-0 ballgame, and they take him out just because analytics say that now he’s going through the third time in the lineup. It happens all of the time, 82 pitches through six innings, haven’t even given up a run, given up two hits, and it’s see you later, great job.
“That’s the problem in the game. Now you’re playing a video game. And this is what analysts want. Here’s your greatest strength, here’s their greatest weakness, press X. And X. And X. And X.
“It’s analytics, and you can always stand by the numbers. Well, the numbers say this. So you always have an answer if you go by analytics. There’s no feel.’
‘Can’t believe he’s here’
It was a whole different game when Verlander broke into the big leagues in 2005 with Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland, who gave Verlander slack and let him work out of jams, pitch deep into games, and win an awful lot of them.
“He let me go, and I had the ability,’ Verlander said, “it wasn’t cookie cutter. I was recovering well in between starts. It wasn’t detrimental. I was able to throw 120 pitches a game, recover and do it again in five days. I would never have the ability to do it now, amass the innings I have now, and have the opportunity to win a lot of those games.
“It just wouldn’t happen. What a disservice to me that would have been. I never would have been asked? I wouldn’t even have known this was possible.’
Now, Verlander is moving towards history, going where no one has gone since Johnson in 2009 – with the Giants. For Dave Righetti, the Giants special assistant, long-time pitching coach and pitcher for 16 years, Verlander could be the sixth time he’s seen a pitcher in person win his 300th, joining Gaylord Perry, Tom Seaver, Phil Niekro, Greg Maddux and Johnson.
It was Johnson’s presence that helped those Giants young pitchers become stars, winning three World Series in five years. Now, Verlander could have that kind of impact too, with Giants manager Bob Melvin calling him the Pied Piper as the club’s pitchers trying to emulate everything about him.
“I still can’t believe he’s here,’ Giants catcher Patrick Bailey says. “I was texting my family and cousins right when he signed like, ‘This is going to be pretty cool catching a Hall of Famer.’ He’s just really raised the expectations for the whole pitching staff, coming in and doing what he’s doing.’
And if Verlander gets to 300, maybe it will wake up a new generation to the old-school philosophy.
“It’s like with anything, right?’ Verlander says. “With more information, it’s not necessarily good information. We learn more about hydration, we learn more about nutrition and we learn more about working out, sometimes you go so far that you learn ‘the old way of doing that was actually really good.’ For a period of time, everybody’s like, ‘Oh, that’s stupid,’ but then you come to find out it wasn’t at all.
“Look, it’s also mutually beneficial. MLB wants more offense, right? Well, let’s make the starting pitcher go deeper into the game. Let’s have pitchers take pride into going deep and covering innings.
“Really, I hope this game can swing back around,’ Verlander says.
“I’d sure hate to win 300 games and people say, “Ah, who the (expletive) cares?’
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