Earlier this season, Justin Verlander passed Bartolo Colon for second-place on the active strikeout leader list. CC Sabathia is comfortably ahead of them both with 2,874 punch outs, but Verlander hit an impressive round number Wednesday night against the Angels.
Justin Verlander threw a shutout and hit a milestone
Thursday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at Justin Verlander’s important strikeouts from Wednesday.
Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
The Astros’ ace racked up seven strikeouts in a nine-inning shutout of the Halos, bringing his career strikeout total to 2,500. And, if he keeps things up at the torrid pace he’s begun this season at, Verlander might find himself in the top-25 all-time by the time 2018 is over.
Verlander has a 1.05 ERA in a league-leading 68 innings, and over the course of his brief Houston career, is at a 1.06 ERA with 11.1 strikeouts per nine. Something in the move from Detroit to Houston seems to have revitalized Verlander, whether it’s coaching or pitching for a team that seems to actually have a plan in place, and it’s made the mileage on Verlander seem a lot less significant in a hurry.
It’s not that we should expect him to continue giving up just about one run per nine innings, but the strikeouts might be here to stay for a bit, or at least something close to them. Verlander currently ranks 33rd all-time in strikeouts: Tom Glavine is 25th all-time, with 2,607. Another 108 strikeouts from Verlander to pass him isn’t out of the ream of possibility for a guy who whiffed 219 batters a year ago, despite spending most of his year being good instead of great.
To get to Glavine, Verlander would also pass Christy Mathewson, A.J. Burnett, Javier Vazquez, Jerry Koosman, Tim Keefe, Bob Feller, and Warren Spahn. Plus, Chuck Finley has just three more strikeouts than Glavine, so 24th is in the realm of possibility for Verlander, too.
And if Verlander is still striking out at least a batter per inning in 2019? David Cone, Frank Tanana, Cy Young, and Mike Mussina sit between Finley’s 2,610 and 2,813 career strikeouts, which would get Verlander to the top-20 all-time. You don’t want to project too much further out with a pitcher who is already 35, but it would take 3,372 strikeouts to bump Greg Maddux out of the top-10.
And hey, if the Yankees win the World Series this year, Verlander won’t even have to worry about outpacing Sabathia to get there.
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