Four years ago, Justin Verlander looked like he was headed over the cliff. Then with the Tigers, the former MVP was coming off one of his worst seasons ever in 2014, with a 4.54 ERA, 85 ERA+, only 0.9 WAR, and just 159 strikeouts in 206 innings. Worse, his once-vaunted velocity had slipped from 95-plus in his prime all the way to a pedestrian 92.3 mph. At 31 years old and with over 1,700 innings already on his arm, there was plenty of reason to believe that the next stage in Verlander’s career was going to be an ugly one.
The Reinvigorated and Brilliant Justin Verlander Reaches 2,500 Strikeouts
