This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart’s Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
HOUSTON -- It will go down as one of the most memorable days of Astros catching prospect Ryan Wrobleski’s career, even if it ended with a broken wrist that will cost him the rest of the season.
Wrobleski, a 20th-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Dallas Baptist, was behind the plate for Justin Verlander’s Minor League rehab start on Thursday for Double-A Corpus Christi, which was playing in Springfield, Ark., against Northwest Arkansas (Royals’ affiliate). Wrobleski, who was 5 years old when Verlander made his Major League debut in 2005, guided the 19-year veteran through four innings, during which Verlander threw 57 pitches and allowed four hits and two runs.
Verlander will come off the injured list Wednesday to start against the Red Sox at Minute Maid Park in his first Major League game since June 9. He had been recovering from a neck issue and needed one final rehab start Thursday. Wrobleski found out two days before he was catching Verlander.
“They said [Major League catching coach Michael] Collins was going to call me, just kind of give me the rundown and stuff like that, what he likes to do,” Wrobleski said. “Because I've never been in big league camp before, I didn't really necessarily know. I caught [José] Urquidy [on a rehab start] earlier this year, and he was fairly simple. [Collins] told me everything about the setups and stuff like that. Honestly, I wasn't necessarily nervous.”
Verlander is known as an intense competitor, even in the middle of nowhere Arkansas and in front of a few thousand fans. The 41-year-old pitcher and 24-year-old catcher sat down and went over Verlander’s pitches and tendencies.
“The pregame stuff was good,” he said. “He's very attentive to anything, to everything. He knows how everything's supposed to feel. You know, the visual for him, it's just kind of me confirming what the visual is, and then, if it's not the way it's supposed to be, he knows what adjustment he needs to make.”
Wrobleski said Verlander’s only absolute was to provide a good target.
“As long as I gave him a target where he could miss in the proper location if he were to miss, but then to give him the best opportunity to elevate or go in or go out, that’s just one of the things that he was kind of very picky on,” he said.
But before Verlander began his pregame warmup, he noticed Wrobleski walking through the clubhouse with a blue jersey, which is what the Hooks were initially going to wear. They had changed to gray jerseys, so he needed to switch.
“I walked right past him in the locker room and he saw me wearing blue and he just kind of smiled and grinned and laughed and I was like, ‘OK, if he's feeling this comfortable, I think I’m good,’” Wrobleski said.
Wrobleski was very familiar with Verlander’s stuff from watching him on TV and said his curveball was as good as he imagined. He said Verlander was throwing 92-93 mph with his fastball but then emptied the tank in the fourth inning, hitting 95 mph.
“I knew growing up that as the game went longer, the harder he was going to throw,” Wrobleski said. “I watched him do that his whole career. I saw him get into a groove, so then that last inning, that was kind of like the coolest moment for me. He threw the first fastball and it's like a two-to-three mph difference [than the start of the game].”
Verlander had done his postgame routine and had departed the stadium when Wrobleski was struck by a pitch in the seventh and broke his right wrist. He’s out for the season. Still, the experience of catching Verlander is what he will remember most about the day.
“He was happy with how he was able to execute stuff like that,” Wrobleski said. “It’s cool getting a compliment from Justin Verlander. But the biggest thing for me was just not messing it up. As long as he had his confidence back and can help the big league team make a playoff push, that means I did my job for that day. That was the thing I was really happy about.”