Justin Brooks Verlander is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros and New York Mets throughout a 19-season career. A three-time Cy Young Award winner as well as an AL MVP recipient, Verlander is considered one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history.
Born in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia, Verlander attended Old Dominion University (ODU) and played college baseball for the Monarchs. He broke the Monarchs' and Colonial Athletic Association's career records for strikeouts. At the 2003 Pan American Games, Verlander helped lead the United States national team to a silver medal. The Tigers selected Verlander with the second overall pick of the 2004 MLB draft. He made his major league debut with the Tigers in 2005 playing there for 12 years as the ace in their starting rotation, as a key figure in four consecutive American League (AL) Central division championships (2011–2014) and two AL pennants (in 2006 and 2012). He is among the career pitching leaders for the Tigers, including ranking second in strikeouts (2,373), seventh in wins (183), and eighth in innings pitched (2,511). The Tigers traded Verlander to the Astros before the 2017 trade deadline, and he went undefeated in his first five starts heading into the postseason. He was named ALCS MVP, and was co-winner of the Babe Ruth Award as the Astros won the 2017 World Series. In 2018, Verlander became the 114th pitcher in major league history to earn 200 career wins, also becoming the 20th-fastest to reach the milestone (427 starts). In 2019, Verlander became the sixth pitcher in MLB history to throw three career no-hitters, and the 18th to strike out 3,000 batters.
Verlander is a nine-time MLB All-Star and has led the AL in strikeouts five times, in earned run average twice, and in wins three times. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 2006, and in 2007 pitched the first no-hitter at Comerica Park versus the Milwaukee Brewers. In 2009, he led the AL in wins and strikeouts, both for the first time. Verlander produced his most successful season in 2011, including his second career no-hitter versus the Toronto Blue Jays. By season's end, Verlander won the Pitching Triple Crown, the AL Cy Young Award unanimously, the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, and the Sporting News Player of the Year Award. In 2019, Verlander had his first career 300-strikeout season and won his second Cy Young award while leading the Astros to their second pennant in three seasons. He suffered an arm injury that required Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for 2020 and 2021. He returned in 2022 and proceeded to win 18 games with a sub-2.00 ERA on his way to leading the Astros to their second World championship. He was awarded the Cy Young in the off-season, making him the first Astro to win multiple Cy Young Awards.
Verlander is one of only four pitchers in Major League history to win multiple World Series championships, win multiple Cy Young Awards, throw multiple no-hitters, and earn multiple All-Star selections; the others are Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, Tim Lincecum and former teammate Max Scherzer. Additionally, Verlander is one of only two pitchers to win the four major awards of a World Series championship, an MVP Award, a Rookie of the Year Award, and a Cy Young Award, the other being Don Newcombe; unlike Newcombe, Verlander also has multiple of two of these awards. Verlander is currently the active leader in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched.
