The Detroit Tigers starter has been scratched from his long-awaited return to the mound on Sunday with a left hamstring strain, he told reporters on Friday.
Verlander has made just one start this season on March 30, allowing five earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. He then spent a lengthy time on the 60-day injured list with a hip injury.
Sunday was supposed to be his big return and his first start at Comerica Park since Aug. 20, 2017. He inked a one-year, $13-million deal with the Tigers in the off-season for a second stint in Detroit.
“I’ve always said I want to play until the wheels fall off,” Verlander said, per The Athletic. “And I don’t know, maybe they are falling off. I hope not.”
Verlander suffered this new hamstring injury while throwing a bullpen on Wednesday, and it looks like he has another lengthy recovery ahead of him.
“This is not a matter of days,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “It’s a matter of weeks. We’re going to need a full rehab process to get him back to throwing again. Obviously, frustrating news for him and for us, given the excitement that was building around his start on Sunday.”
Despite the consecutive injuries, Verlander vows not to quit on the Tigers this season, and he’ll work to get back to the mound. However, following this year, the 43-year-old knows he’ll have to re-look at his playing future.
“Once (the season ends), I don’t know, man,” he said. “It’s a different conversation now than it was last year when I seemed to be healthy.”
Verlander is the oldest player in the MLB and the oldest active athlete in major North American professional sports.
“I critique myself harder than anybody,” Verlander said. “I think I handle this no differently. If I can’t be healthy and I continue to prove that I can’t be healthy, that’s something that I have to really evaluate. … This is uncharted territory for me, and it sucks, but I think first and foremost right now it’s like, ‘Head down, work hard, get past this, try to get back out there for the Detroit Tigers and myself, and see what I can do.’”