The New York Mets placed right-hander Justin Verlander on the 15-day injured list on Thursday (March 30) with a low-grade muscle strain near his pitching shoulder.
In a tweet sent less than three hours before the Mets opened up their season against the Marlins, New York said that Verlander injured his teres major, a muscle that connects the shoulder blade to the upper arm. He will continue to throw at moderate intensity and the team will reevaluate him in a week.
The Mets are placing Justin Verlander on the IL to begin the season.
He will be rescanned in a week. https://t.co/yjrwwwyw1U pic.twitter.com/pBRUOtXUng
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 30, 2023
The injury arose after Verlander participated in a bullpen session on Wednesday. According to Newsday’s Tim Healey, Mets general manager Billy Eppler said Verlander reported discomfort Wednesday night and got an MRI Thursday morning. He’ll get another MRI next Thursday, the day of the Mets’ home opener.
Eppler also emphasized the minimal nature of the injury, though he declined to approximate how long Verlander may be out. The 17-year veteran said he felt the discomfort during his last spring training start on March 26, when his fastball velocity was well below his normal rate.
“It feels like crap. Especially personally,” Verlander said. “Not the way I wanted my Mets tenure to start, that’s for sure. I put in a ton of work to not have things like this happen. We are athletes and unfortunately when you’re working at a high level of intensity, stuff like this does come along.”
Justin Verlander provides more detail on his injury:
"Looking back, it's something that was lingering. I thought it was something I was working through. In my bullpen yesterday, I still felt a teeny bit of something." pic.twitter.com/4xfXWXOT6H
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 30, 2023
Verlander did say that if this happened later in the year, he might pitch through it and if it happened in the playoffs, he would definitely pitch through it.
“The beginning of the season, coming off spring training, it makes too much sense to not push it right now and risk three months when it would be much, much, much, much, much [less0,” Verlander said.
Verlander was scheduled to pitch Saturday against Miami, which would have been his regular-season Mets debut after signing a two-year, $86.7 million deal this offseason. Fellow right-hander Tylor Megill will start in his absence — Saturday and in the home opener.
Just another day in the office for @JustinVerlander pic.twitter.com/hcJdLgAq2X
— MLB (@MLB) March 10, 2023
While it doesn’t seem serious, losing a reigning Cy Young winner for any amount of time is not good for a rotation. In 28 starts last season, Verlander had an MLB-best 1.75 ERA and 0.83 WHIP — one of the best season’s of the 40-year-old’s career despite missing the entire 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery. A nine-time All-Star, Verlander won his first Cy Young in 2011 (also winning AL MVP) and won the World Series in 2017 and 2022 with the Astros.
Verlander’s injury is another blow for the Mets, who are already down closer Edwin Diaz for the season and starting lefty José Quintana for significant time.
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