Justin Verlander Returning to Form, Wants to Stay With Mets

For the second time as a Met, Justin Verlander was on the mound against a team he has faced many-a-time in, the New York Yankees. Prior to being signed as a Met, Verlander had faced the Yankees 23 times. He was a combined 8-7 against his former AL-East opponents as a Tiger and Astro. With the Mets’ 9-3 win over the Yankees Tuesday, he improves to 2-0 against the Mets’ subway-series rival as a Met.

Coming off an 8-inning outing on July 19, Verlander was looking to keep an upward momentum on the mound on Tuesday night. And he did just that as he gave the Mets the quality outing they needed from their starter, pitching six shutout innings. He gave up just two hits, walked four, and struck out six before handing the ball over to the bullpen in the seventh inning. Verlander threw 98 pitches (63 for strikes) to the 24 batters he faced on the night. He produced five groundouts and four flyouts.

With being credited with Tuesday night’s win, Verlander improves to 5-5 on the season and has a 3.24 ERA over the course of 15 games pitched in. He has struck out 76 and has a WHIP of 1.15 in 89 innings pitched this season.

After starting the season on the injured list, Verlander got a slow start with the Mets, posting a 4.80 ERA in the month of May and giving up 16 earned runs over five starts. He has gradually improved as the season has gone on. He posted a 3.33 ERA in the month of June and, so far, for the month of July, has given up just six earned runs over the course of five starts and has an ERA for the month of 1.69. He is also 3-1 for the month and has 27 strikeouts, which ties his strikeout count through the month of June. He should have one more start before the month concludes. But looking at overall numbers, Verlander has shown improvement as the season has gone on.

With the trade deadline now less than a week away, after Tuesday night’s game, Verlander was questioned about his thoughts on his status as Met. “I’m focused on being a Met,” he said. “That’s why I signed here. I want to win here. It hasn’t gone according to plan just yet, but I didn’t sign a one-year deal. So there’s that.”

Verlander wants to be a Met and said ownership hasn’t even talked to him about any possibilities of being traded. “I would hope that if there was any chance of that (being traded), Billy would come and talk to me and that hasn’t happened,” Verlander said.

Over the course of his last eight starts (June 14 on), Verlander sits near the top on most rankings among MLB starters:

• Innings Pitched: Tied for 1st with 50 innings
• HR/9: 2nd with a 0.36
• Hard Hit Percentage: 2nd with a 24.1
• fWAR: Tied for 2nd with a 1.4
• ERA: 4th with a 1.98
• AVG: Tied for 4th with a .183

As mentioned above, all signs are pointing to Verlander, showing improvement on the mound and returning to form. Pete Alonso, who had a big night at the plate on Tuesday, also commented on his teammate’s performance. “Justin’s been just throwing the ball absolutely wonderfully for us. He’s executing his pitches. I know he works harder than almost anybody. He’s a great teammate and it’s really awesome to see all of his hard work and determination turn into great outings for us,” said Alonso. “I know he had a rough start, but he’s really starting to peak.”

Verlander returning to his old form, or even close to it, would be a huge boost to the Mets’ slim postseason hopes in 2023 and certainly make them more comfortable about their rotation going into 2024.

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