Justin Verlander’s perceived worst-case scenario of a return by the very end of April appears to be even more unfavorable for the Mets ace.
Manager Buck Showalter divulged that the 40-year-old right-hander is moving to a five-day rehab schedule that should push his Mets debut into early next month.
On Tuesday, Verlander threw a second bullpen session down in Port St. Lucie, FL where the next step is to throw live batting practice. By the team’s five-day schedule, that wouldn’t come until Sunday.
“We’re kind of going off what he’s telling us and what he’s feeling,” Showalter told reports in Los Angeles. “But so far, so good.”
Should that go well, Verlander would still have to throw one minor-league rehab start, which in a new best-case scenario, wouldn’t come until Friday, April 28. That would project his return to a major-league mound and his first-ever start with the Mets around May 3 in Detroit against the Tigers — the team he spent the first 13 years of his Hall-of-Fame career with.
Verlander was sidelined just before the start of the 2023 season with a shoulder strain that he described as a minimal injury that allowed him to continue throwing at a moderate intensity — supplying the hope that not much time would be missed.
Prior to the Mets’ home opener on April 6, he said he was throwing at “75% intensity” and was close to taking “the leash off” and throwing at a full tilt. That was also when he said that a return by the very end of April would be “a worst-case scenario.”
He signed a two-year, $86.6 million to join the Mets over the winter following his third-career Cy Young Award and a World Series crown with the Houston Astros.
