It looks like all the hitting talent in the Verlander family went to Justin's brother Ben

Justin Verlander' status as a super-elite starting pitcher is not debatable. The Tigers ace is a five-time All-Star and former MVP and Cy Young Award winner. Also not debatable (despite cracking a BP homer or two like the one you see above): Verlander is a very poor in-game hitter.

As an AL pitcher, Verlander doesn't bat often, but when he does, he's as close to an automatic out as there is. The right-hander has 33 plate appearances in his career and has never reached base once, which is actually an MLB record.

Justin's historic futility at the plate is contrasted, however, by his collegiate brother's recent power explosion. Playing for Old Dominion University (which is Justin's alma mater as well), Ben Verlander went 4-for-4 with three home runs in ODU's Saturday game against Northeastern.

Justin acknowledged that Ben had bested him in something for the first time ever:

First time @verly32 is better than me at anything RT @buster_espn: detroitnews.com/article/201303…

- Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) March 12, 2013

While Ben expressed surprise that Justin would admit it even in this case:

Surprised you even admit that RT "@justinverlander: 1st time @verly32 is better than me at anything RT @buster_espn: detroitnews.com/article/201303…"

- Ben Verlander (@Verly32) March 12, 2013

It looks like all the family's pitching talent went to Justin (Ben is a converted pitcher himself after posting an 8.83 ERA last season), and all the hitting talent went to Ben. I'm sure the Tigers will be just fine with that arrangement if they draft Ben again -- they already did once, when he was coming out of high school in 2010.

-- Dan Wohl / MLB.com