WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A scrum of reporters huddled around Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr.'s locker, eagerly waiting for the right-hander’s first interview of Spring Training. Stuff like this is old hat to McCullers, the son of a big leaguer, a former first-round Draft pick and a veteran who started Game 7 of a World Series.
Still, the tone of the interview was a bit different from past years.
Instead of questions about his recovery from injuries, which have plagued him during his career, or his arsenal -- he doesn’t want to be so obsessed with the sweeper this year -- McCullers sounded Monday like a man who realizes he could be nearing the end of his career and is comfortable with what he’s accomplished.
“I have no reservations about my future in baseball,” he said. “God’s blessed me, man. I have two beautiful daughters. I have a beautiful wife. We’ve been married 10 years, together 16, 17 years, so if the future for me is to be home with them, I’ll be happy with that. I’ll be content with that, you know? But if the future for me is to be in this game, if I can be healthy and help a team win, I’ll be happy with that, too.”
In the final year of a five-year, $85 million contract, the 32-year-old is coming off his first healthy offseason in several years and competing for a spot in the rotation. In past years, he was a rotation lock when healthy, but things are different now. Houston added four starting pitchers this winter to give the club depth to protect against injuries.
Injuries are something McCullers knows all too well. He returned to action last year following a 2 1/2-year layoff and posted a 6.51 ERA in 55 1/3 innings in 16 games (13 starts), though he landed on the injured list three more times. A foot sprain came in June, a blister on his right finger got him in July and August, while right hand soreness sidelined him in September.
McCullers was activated from the IL for the final game of the regular season in Anaheim and allowed one run -- a homer to Mike Trout -- while striking out four batters in three innings. He ended the season with a good taste in his mouth, and he enters this season healthy.
“When you’re hurt and you’re dealing with something and you’re also not crisp, you’re having to manage a workload in between your bullpens and in between your starts, you can’t work on things,” McCullers said. “You’re repeating the cycle of ‘I’m never going to climb out of this hole.’ But when you’re healthy and you’re feeling good and you’re relatively crisp, you’re able to work on what you need to work on, you’re able to stack days and make strides to be better, and that’s where I’m at right now. Everything’s been going well.”
McCullers and Jose Altuve are the only remaining players who were on both of the Astros’ World Series championship teams, and he takes pride in his accomplishments. He’s been a large part of what people call the Golden Era of Astros baseball, even if he’s been injured for much of it. The injuries have been frustrating, but they have provided him a perspective few others have.
“The older you get, you start prioritizing some things in life,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “We all do that. I’ve done that, and I think Lance is in a really good place where he understands he’s done a lot of things in this game and he wants to continue to contribute and help us win. He can do that.”
McCullers isn’t sure what the future holds, beyond a live batting practice session later this week, followed by his first Grapefruit League outing. Whatever awaits him this season and beyond doesn’t matter much now. Does he retire? Does he return to Houston? Does he play elsewhere?
He’s good either way.
“I think I just need to let go and stop trying to control everything, stop trying to just micromanage everything,” McCullers said. “I would love to be good, not because I want to necessarily continue to play, but just 'cause I would love to be good for this organization, this fan base in my last year here … with this uniform on. I’ve been in this organization since I was barely 18 years old. So it would be great to just have a nice last year here. Whatever the future holds, the future holds.”