The Giants are placing Justin Verlander on the 15-day injured list with a pectoral nerve issue, manager Bob Melvin told the teams’s beat after today’s loss to Kansas City (relayed by Shayna Rubin of The San Francisco Chronicle). They haven’t announced a corresponding move.
Melvin indicated that the Giants are confident it’ll only cost Verlander two turns through the rotation (via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). They can backdate the assignment to May 19, so he’d first be eligible to return on June 3. The veteran righty’s tenure in San Francisco has gotten out to a pedestrian beginning. He’s averaging just over five innings per start and has tallied a 4.33 earned run average in 10 appearances. He’s striking out only 18.2% of batters faced, though his 11.4% swinging strike rate is up from the 9-10% range of the previous two seasons.
It’s a moderate improvement over Verlander’s final season in Houston. He posted a 5.48 ERA with an 18.7% strikeout percentage through 90 1/3 innings. Injuries have become increasingly prevalent for the 42-year-old future Hall of Famer. Verlander began the 2024 season on the IL with shoulder inflammation. He was knocked back out in mid-June with a neck problem that was initially expected to be minor. It ended up costing him two months.
Verlander was rocked over seven starts after returning from the neck injury. He allowed more than eight earned runs per nine innings while opponents raked at a .322/.369/.483 clip. The Astros felt they couldn’t carry him on the playoff roster given the form he carried into October. It was an unfortunate end to an illustrious run in Houston. The three-time Cy Young winner signed with the Giants for $15MM as a free agent.
The Giants had operated with the same rotation for the season’s first six weeks. Verlander slotted alongside Robbie Ray, Landen Roupp and Jordan Hicks behind Logan Webb. They made an (arguably overdue) swap of Hicks for Hayden Birdsong over the weekend, pushing Hicks to the bullpen after he posted a 6.55 ERA through nine starts.
Verlander would have been lined up to take the ball on Saturday. The Giants have an off day tomorrow, so they could theoretically delay their decision on a fifth starter by a couple days if they wanted to move Ray up from Sunday’s start. They probably won’t move Hicks back to the rotation for what they expect to be a minimal absence from Verlander.
Kyle Harrison is in the big league bullpen after working out of the Triple-A rotation for much of the year. Prospect Carson Whisenhunt has a dominant 52:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio over nine starts in the minors. He’s not on the 40-man roster, though, so the Giants may not want to bring him up yet. Carson Seymour, Trevor McDonald and Mason Black are all in the Triple-A rotation and occupy 40-man roster spots. McDonald started yesterday, while Seymour is lined up to take the ball today, which probably rules them out for a promotion. Whisenhunt pitched on Monday; Black’s most recent start came last Friday.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
