Verlander Named AL Player of the Week

HOUSTON, TX - Major League Baseball announced today that Houston Astros RHP Justin Verlander has been named the American League Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 26-Sept. 1. This marks the ninth career AL Player of the Week award for Verlander and first this season. His last came in Sept. of 2018.

Verlander made history on Sunday afternoon in Toronto, hurling his third career no-hitter, tallying 14 strikeouts and just one walk in a dominant, 2-0 victory. In the process, Verlander became just the sixth pitcher in ML history to hurl three no-hitters, joining Nolan Ryan (7), Sandy Koufax (4), Bob Feller (3), Cy Young (3) and Larry Corcoran (3). Verlander also made history by becoming the first pitcher ever to hurl multiple no-hitters in the same road ballpark. He also no-hit the Blue Jays in Toronto on May 7, 2011 while with Detroit.

For the week, Verlander was 2-0 in his two starts with a 0.00 ERA (0ER/14.1IP) with 18 strikeouts and one walk while allowing just four hits (.085 opponents average).

At 36 years old, Verlander is enjoying one of the most dominant seasons of his illustrious career and is a very solid Cy Young candidate along with teammate Gerrit Cole. Verlander is 17-5 in his 29 starts with a 2.56 ERA with 257 strikeouts in 193.0 innings of work with just 114 hits allowed. However, his ML-best .166 opponents batting average and 0.77 WHIP are what make his 2019 season truly unique. If those numbers hold up, Verlander would have the lowest opponents batting average ever in a season for starting pitcher and the second-lowest WHIP ever in a season for a starting pitcher. Additionally, Verlander also leads the AL in ERA (2.56), innings pitched (193.0), is tied for the lead in wins (17) and is second in strikeouts (257).

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