A mainstay at the top of the rotation for the Astros during their stretch as a premier organization in the American League, Justin Verlander is anticipating a return to form after an inconsistent 2023 season. The future Hall of Famer, who is playing his first full season in an Astros uniform since their championship 2022 season, is coming off a down year by his standards in 2023, in which he was 13-8 with a 3.22 era over 27 starts with the Astros and New York Mets. However, there is reason for optimism that he will return to form in 2024.
Verlander experienced a career revival upon being traded to Houston in the final seconds of the 2017 trade deadline, amassing two Cy Young awards while leading Houston to two World Series Championships. The aging pitcher experienced a decline during his brief tenure in New York last season, struggling at times to adjust to National League hitting. Verlander, entering his 20th season in the Major Leagues, will be 41 years old on Opening Day and sidelined until mid-April with right shoulder inflammation. He has shown in the past to be an outlier in terms of not succumbing to age-related regression in on-field production, as, since 2018, his age 36 season, Verlander remained a generational talent, going 69-27 with a sub-three era in 125 starts. All but 16 of those starts were with the Astros, as Verlander has displayed his comfort playing in Houston repeatedly.
The aging Astros will rely even more on Verlander this year than in years past, as he is expected to lead a talented rotation who, much like Verlander himself, struggled with inconsistency in 2023 after a dominating 2022 championship run. After losing out on reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to the San Francisco Giants in free agency, Verlander will remain the undisputed ace of the Astros rotation. If he remains healthy and improves consistency, he can return to his Cy Young-winning 2022 form and lead the Astros on another deep playoff run.
