SAN DIEGO -- Justin Verlander has made it clear he’s a different pitcher, and in some ways a different person, than the former Cy Young Award winner and MVP who was a larger-than-life presence during his first Tigers tenure. At age 43, he can’t help it. In fact, he embraces it.
While Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize have become the clubhouse coffee connoisseurs, having bought an espresso machine and a grinder, Skubal says Verlander drinks more coffee than either of them, and more than he used to.
“Yeah, yeah, I do,” Verlander admits. “Although I've kind of toned it down at game time so I can get to bed. I need my sleep now at my old age.”
When told he begins the season as the oldest player in the American League, he embraces it.
“Is it in baseball? Or just the American League?” he asked. “Is it in all of pro sports, too? Who's older?”
He might have had the oldest pro sports player title had Philip Rivers not come out of retirement at age 44 to quarterback the Indianapolis Colts down the stretch last season. But with Rivers now reportedly retired again, Verlander might have it.
“He’s a living legend,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s back wearing our uniform, which I know means a lot to him and our fans.”
It is no surprise, then, that as he prepares to begin his 20th Major League season (or 21st, depending on whether you count his two starts in 2005) back where it began, he’s taking time to smell the roses in a way that he didn’t consider in the past.
“I think it's also something I want to carry into the season,” he said after his first Spring Training start. “To what extent, I don't know. Just being present and just enjoying it. I don't want to sit here and sound like this is it. Like, it could be. One-year contract, if something catastrophic goes wrong, that's it, man, I'm done. All I know is there's not that much time left, so enjoy it while you can.”
But when Verlander prepares for his Tigers return on Monday against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field, some things won’t change. He will walk into the clubhouse with headphones on, music playing, and focus completely on the task at hand.
“I'll have my headphones on for sure,” he said. “I just won't be as angry.”
He will probably take a moment to savor wearing the Olde English D again. And then he’ll go to work trying to continue the Tigers’ strong start to the season against a Diamondbacks team he fared well against as a division rival last year.
Verlander tossed a pair of quality starts against Arizona while with the Giants. His seven scoreless innings on three hits last September at Chase Field was one of the better performances of his second-half resurgence, despite just three strikeouts. His velocity was down across the board in that game, but he commanded his fastball with precision, drawing 10 called strikes and four whiffs on that pitch.
That could be a blueprint for Monday. His fastball velo wasn’t where he wanted it in Spring Training, but he made a point not to obsess over it. He believes he can work with what he’s got.
“We'll find out,” he said Saturday. “It's not too far off. I think it's not perfect, but hopefully it's good enough to get some outs. You never know, start of the season, April comes along and things just start clicking. You go into Spring Training and you're kind of always working on stuff and then that switch flips and then it's just like trying to get outs. Hopefully I can get a bunch of them.”
Do that, and he’ll ride into his return to Comerica Park with the kind of on-field momentum and off-field buzz that could make next Sunday night’s game against the Cardinals the return of “Must See J.V.”
He’s not thinking that far ahead yet. He just wants to keep up his end of the rotation. But as he begins his second Tigers tenure, he’s certainly aware of it.
“It's kind of like a full circle thing,” he said. “It's fun to be back and just fun to be part of the organization again.”