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MIAMI — The Mets were set to start the season with their healthiest rotation in years, but then Justin Verlander felt something wrong in his right shoulder during a bullpen session the night before Opening Day at LoanDepot Park.
The Mets’ co-ace and marquee winter signing, will start the season on the injured list with a low-grade teres major strain in his right shoulder.
Verlander struggled with his mechanics in his final Grapefruit League start last week and his fastball velocity was down a few miles per hour. It wasn’t anything he worried about at the time, but having dealt with a lat strain in the past, he realized the soreness he felt in his bullpen was probably connected to the decrease in velocity. The Mets exercised caution in sending him to get imaging right away.
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“In my bullpen yesterday, I felt just a teeny bit of something,” Verlander said Thursday ahead of the Mets’ season opener against the Miami Marlins. “When I looked back and I thought I was over it and I still felt something, I kind of connected the dots. My velocity was down in my last start and that was really the main thing.”
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Verlander will skip his first start in Miami and he will not be able to start the home opener, also against the Marlins, next week at Citi Field. The Mets did not provide a timeline but he will have more imaging done when he returns to New York the day of the opener. A typical timeline for this kind of injury is about two weeks, so missing two starts is the best-case scenario.
Right-hander Tylor Megill is being called up from Triple-A Syracuse to take his spot in the rotation. Megill was set to pitch the Syracuse opening Friday, instead, he’ll pitch Saturday in Miami and again April 6. It’s exciting for Megill, who was the Mets’ Opening Day starter last season, but Verlander is disappointed that he won’t be able to introduce himself to fans the way he had hoped.
“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. But we’re athletes, and unfortunately, when we’re working at a high level of intensity, stuff like this does come along. I’m very thankful that it’s as minor as it is, but it still doesn’t subtract from how I feel. I love pitching and I just want to be out there. To not be able to do that, especially with a new team and a new fanbase, it doesn’t feel great.”
The teres major sits along the latissimus dorsi and functions with it to support the rotation and stabilization of the shoulder. Verlander said he would be able to pitch through it if he was making a postseason start, emphasizing that the injured list stint is precautionary. It’s a disappointing turn of events, but manager Buck Showalter said the team is more focused on starting the season strong than losing an important starting pitcher.
“It’s nothing we shouldn’t be able to resolve,” Showalter said. “I try not to live in that world. Sure, the guy coming up is excited about the opportunity and it’s one of the things that good clubs are able to do. We did it last year, overcoming a lot of this stuff, whether it’s the first part of the season or later on, I don’t think it’s a real hot topic right now in our locker room.”
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This isn’t a total shutdown, as the reigning Cy Young Award winner is still able to play catch and won’t have to build back up when he’s cleared to start again.
“As a pitcher, sometimes that’s the longest part of a comeback from an injury, so to be able to keep throwing is a huge benefit,” Verlander said. “I can do it every day, taking a day off doesn’t set you back. It’s when you start taking off three, four or five days when your muscles and your cuff start to tighten down. I’ll probably give it a day or two and let things settle down for no other reason than it just makes sense, and then I’ll regain throwing.”
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The 40-year-old three-time Cy Young Award winner was set to begin the first year of a two-year, $87 million contract. The Mets are counting on a number of veterans who are over the age of 30 this season, including right-hander Max Scherzer, who is entering his age-39 season. The questions about whether or not they can hold up are going to persist, especially if the injuries pile up. The Mets have acknowledged that are going to be fighting time this season.
However, injury aside, Verlander thinks he’s going to hold up just fine.
“In all this, the great news is that my doctor said my shoulder looks like that of a 20-year-old,” Verlander said. “That’s always nice to hear as a 40-year-old.”
