Lakeland, Fla. ― The first ovation got to him. And he’d get four more before his day was done.
“I’m going to have to really focus on not being emotional this year,” said Justin Verlander, who made his spring debut in the the Tigers’ 11-3 romp over the Boston Red Sox. “Obviously, they showed their love and I appreciate it. It was really, really special.”
The sellout crowd of 8,162 at Joker Marchant Stadium stood and applauded as Verlander walked from the bullpen to the dugout before the game. They stood when he took the mound to start the game. The stood when he came off the mound just three batters and 22 pitches later. And they stood when he re-entered in the second inning.
“That’s what that re-entry rule is for,” Verlander said. “The three-ups is more important than trying to grind through that inning.”
He ended up striking out four and getting six outs, leaving the game for good with two outs in the third.
“Overall, I thought it went fairly decent,” he said.
The first three Red Sox hitters fouled off 10 pitches, four of them by Kristian Campbell, who ended an 11-pitch at-bat with a two-run homer off a 3-2 sweeper. Spring rules allow starting pitchers to be pulled and re-entered the next inning and Verlander was much more dialed in when he came back out for the second.
“It was particularly Campbell, right?” Verlander said of the foul ball fest in the first. “That was a long at-bat. But I think it’s kind of normal for me in spring. And I think a lot of it has to do with not getting offspeed to the exact spot I want it. Also, trying to repeat some stuff. I’m not sequencing like I would in season.
“At this point in spring, it’s also hard to get heaters by guys. Everybody is fresh and bat speed is up, My velo, too, hopefully it can continue to climb a little bit.”
He ended up hitting 95.3 mph on his four-seamer, which is more than 1 mph firmer than he was throwing it in his live bullpens. He got 11 misses on 28 swings, six with his slider. And, most importantly, he built his volume up to 50 pitches.
“I was working on some mechanical stuff, that I thought was pretty good,” Verlander said. “Campbell saw me pretty good, I took that away from it. Other than that, I thought the results were fairly good. Later in the game, especially in the last inning when I made the adjustment on my slider and started to get the location better. I got a lot of the swing results I wanted. And the changeup was fairly decent.”
Verlander is doing his best to juggle the flood of emotions that comes with being back with the Tigers, being back in Lakeland.
“I was nervous today,” he said. “I get nervous all the time. Maybe a little bit moreso today…A lot of it is eerily familiar. Like, it goes so fast. This is my 22nd spring training. … There’s a lot of weird feelings and a lot of mixed emotions.”
Nostalgia is only a part of it. There is a part of him that wants to soak everything up. He doesn’t think this is his last go-around, but it might be.
“I am an emotional person,” he said. “I don’t think it caught me by surprise at all. The walk to the dugout got me a little bit. That surprised me a tad. But it’s fun. It’s nostalgia for a good reason. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to play.
“I’m not saying I came back this year and this is going to be it, I’m going to retire. I don’t know. But I do know there is not a lot of time left, especially in the grand scheme of things.”
At 43 and in his 21st big-league season, he is fully aware there is more behind him than in front of him. He’s embracing that. He acknowledged the fans’ pre-game ovation with wave of his that. That’s something he would not have done 10 years ago.
“In the past, I’d be like, ‘Don’t let it get in the way. Don’t pay attention. Don’t say anything,’” he said. “Today, obviously, I showed them how much I appreciated that. Because I did.”
He just wants to be present for all of it.
“I don’t want this to sound like this is it, but it could be,” he said. “I’m on a one-year contract. If something catastrophic goes wrong, then that’s it. I’m done. All I know is there isn’t that much time left, so enjoy it while I can.”
It’s a concerted effort. It’s something he vowed to do after talking to a lot of older players who attacked the game with the same intensity as he did earlier in his career.
“I paid attention to what the old guys said,” he said. “The common theme amongst those guys was that they wished they’d have enjoyed it more toward the end. At this point in my career, what made me be so intense early on, what I needed to get out of that, I got it.
“But I’ve learned that I don’t need to be that intense any more to go out and compete.”
Game bits
Right-hander Drew Anderson continues to be impressive. He struck out four in 3.1 perfect innings, throwing 46 pitches with 27 strikes and getting four misses on seven swings with his kick-change. He’s not allowed a run in 8.1 innings this spring. He’s being stretched out right now like a starter, but the expectation is that he will start the season in the bullpen.
… Matt Vierling is raking early in camp. He was 3 for 3 with a double and a three-run home run Friday. He’s 8 for 15 for the spring.
… Will Vest pitched a clean inning with a strikeout. It was his third outing and the velocity on his four-seamer got up to 96 mph.
… Wenceel Perez was hit with a pitch near his left knee and left the game. Manager AJ Hinch said afterward that he was pulled as a precaution. Perez walked to the clubhouse without any limp or apparent discomfort.
… The Tigers pitching plan for the weekend: Casey Mize will start Saturday against the Pirates in Lakeland, Bryan Sammons on Sunday against the Blue Jays in Dunedin, and Framber Valdez will start Monday against the Rays in Lakeland.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Justin Verlander conquers nerves, emotions in spring debut with Tigers
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
