Justin Verlander is known for being a voracious competitor and uncompromising. He has been one of the best pitchers of the past decade.
However, things started to change two seasons ago and many had written the veteran Detroit hurler off. Some even thought the Tigers should take him out of the rotation.
His arm started to bother him, tightening up so much that he had to keep throwing in the cage just to keep it loose. He called it miserable.
Fast forward two years and back to himself – the dominating strikeout pitcher that has a higher strikeout rate than he did during the season he won the MVP.
He is allowing fewer base runners than any other pitcher in the league and is back into the race for the Cy Young while helping to propel his Tigers’ teammates towards a berth in the postseason.
At age 33, Verlander feels he belongs where he is as he worked so hard to return to where he had been prior to 2014, but was not sure he would ever return.
His problems begin in 2013, but hit him the hardest in 2014. He however prides himself on being able to pitch 200 innings during 2014, which was his eighth straight season doing so even though each pitch was painful.
Only Mark Beuhrle and James Shields were able to pitch 200 innings each year over that same period. Verlander however, was upset about hearing his play was dropping and believed he still had an arm that could dominant hitters.
He knew his delivery had changed during 2013 and 2014 and studied photos and videos of those years in order to change every aspect of his delivery.
He was determined to eliminate the imperfections in his delivery and worked with a physical therapist in New York over the winter. During spring training, he was completely recovered and ready to show the baseball word his arm was back.
The results have been nothing less than spectacular for the Tigers. Verlander is now 14-7 on the season with an ERA of 3.28. He has 209 strikeouts in 195 innings pitched.
