SAN FRANCISCO -- Justin Verlander is on the injured list, and the Giants will have to tinker with their rotation yet again.
Verlander was placed on the 15-day IL Thursday with soreness in his pectoral muscle. Manager Bob Melvin said this was expected after Wednesday’s 8-4 loss to the Royals at Oracle Park. The move was retroactive to Monday, the day after Verlander’s most recent start -- an outing against the Athletics in which the veteran right-hander’s velocity was down and his command was spotty.
After throwing a bullpen session before Wednesday’s contest that “wasn’t as good as I would like it to be,” Verlander admitted to team trainers he couldn’t commit to making his next scheduled start on Saturday. Instead, he went on the IL for the first time with San Francisco and the fourth time since the start of 2023 with what Melvin referred to as nerve irritation in the pectoral area.
“It just makes some sense right now not to push him too hard, because he wasn’t going to make this next start,” Melvin said. “He’s obviously not happy about it. He wants to make every start. But we think it’s the prudent thing to do -- just give him a little bit of a break right now.”
Verlander wasn’t in pain during his four-inning outing against the A’s on Sunday, but his fastball averaged just 91.3 mph, nearly 3 mph down from his season average of 94.2. From his first pitch -- a 90.5 mph four-seamer to Lawrence Butler -- he could tell something was amiss.
“I really thought it was going to be just fine, and then I go out there and start throwing, and I look up at the first pitch and it’s 90, 91,” Verlander said. “I’m like, ‘Oh, boy. Gonna be a tough day.’”
It was: Verlander issued a season-high five walks and routinely yanked fastballs off the plate on a day he felt something “clearly wasn’t right.” After testing things out on Wednesday, he was unable to say with 100 percent certainty if he could start Saturday against the Nationals. That, Verlander said, made an IL stint necessary in the Giants’ view.
“The worst-case scenario would be, ‘Hey, I’m pretty sure I can make the next start,’ and unfortunately something happens or it doesn’t bounce back as quick as everybody thinks,” Verlander said. “Then that kind of hamstrings our starting staff and some other guys. I’m sure they don’t want to do that.”
Verlander’s absence will still affect a Giants rotation that recently debuted a new look, with right-hander Jordan Hicks moving to the bullpen and youngster Hayden Birdsong taking his spot. Birdsong looked impressive in his first start of 2025, striking out four and giving up just one unearned run in Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Kansas City.
The Giants have yet to determine who will fill Verlander’s spot in the starting five, but Hicks, left-hander Kyle Harrison and No. 2 prospect Carson Whisenhunt are among the leading contenders. Harrison has been pitching out of the bullpen this season for the first time in his MLB career and has a 3.38 ERA in 5 1/3 relief innings. Whisenhunt, another lefty, has a 3.00 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 51 frames over nine Triple-A starts.
“Whoever it is, they’ll come in and do a great job,” right-hander Logan Webb promised.
Webb learned during his postgame media conference that Verlander would be headed to the IL, but he took the news in stride. Sure, the Giants' ace admitted there’s no replacing “a first-ballot Hall of Famer” like Verlander is poised to be, but Webb has more faith in the depth of the team’s starting staff than in past years.
Melvin and the Giants' coaching staff feel the same way. With the options at its disposal -- including deploying arms from MLB’s best bullpen by ERA (2.66) -- San Francisco can afford to be without Verlander for a couple of weeks.
“With the rotation, looking at the bullpen usage and where we are and the stretch that we have, it just made sense to make sure we feel like he’s 100% next time around,” Melvin said.
That’s no certainty for a 42-year-old who pitched just 90 1/3 innings with the Astros in 2024, but the Giants will hope Verlander is back at full strength soon.
“The best thing for the team was to get an extra arm here,” Verlander said. “Hopefully easy to deal with, and I should be back pretty quickly.”