Verlander Feeling Good After 45-Pitch Bullpen, Most Intense One Yet
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
DETROIT - Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander threw 45 pitches Monday in a bullpen he termed "by far the most intense" he has thrown in the course of the process to return from a triceps strain that has sidelined him since the start of the season.
Verlander said he felt good after the bullpen, and he hopes the next step is close at hand.
"Probably getting pretty close to a sim game," Verlander said Monday. "Maybe throw another bullpen with good effort, maybe sit down, get back up, maybe go through my pregame routine, sit down, get back up, see how that responds. I'd say we're pretty close to getting off the mound against hitters.
"In a perfect world, probably need to throw a sim game and then probably some sort of real game before I get back out there," Verlander continued. "I haven't really done the math yet on the time, but probably sim game then probably try to get on my normal routine, which would be five days, rehab start, and if all goes well, hopefully start in a real game."
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus concurred with Verlander's estimation that at least one more bullpen is in order.
"He'll probably do one more 'pen, where he gets up and done, before we move forward with him," Ausmus said.
"We were kind of at this point earlier in the season too, and then we had a little bit of a setback, so part of the reason for being more cautious, I think, is that we don't want to revisit that," Ausmus added.
Like his manager, Verlander hopes this time is different. He thinks it should be.
"All signs point to it being pretty much healed - MRIs, et cetera," Verlander said. "Seen way too many MRI machines. I hope that this time there's no setbacks or anything. Can't be 100 percent, but I know it's been different this time around than it was three, four weeks ago."
Verlander said he threw all his pitches Monday, including the curveball, which he said looked fine.
"I'm not thinking about it, I'm not babying anything," Verlander said. "The only thing I can complain about it is it being a little inconsistent, but doc said it was a good break, everything was where it was when I left off in spring training, so that's good."
Verlander said it is hard to determine where his arm strength is at this point, given that the bullpen did not mirror a game situation -- at least not an ideal game situation.
"I fatigued a little bit today, like normal fatigue, but I haven't thrown that many pitches with that much effort in a long time in a bullpen," Verlander said. "You throw 45 in a row with that much effort. You don't really practice for that. You hope you're not throwing that many pitches in an inning in a baseball game."
Verlander has done his best to follow orders and not push too hard in his quest to get back to form, but he obviously wants to return as soon as possible.
"I think it all just depends on how I feel," Verlander said. "If I throw a rehab start and getting up and down feels good and I don't fatigue, I don't see why they'd want me to throw another one. I think it's really based on how I feel."
Rondon update
Verlander gave a rave review to another pitcher working back from injury, Tigers reliever Bruce Rondon, who threw to hitters Monday.
"Awesome," Verlander said with a grin. "It was pretty good."
Rondon also started the season on the disabled list. He is returning from bicipital tendinitis. Ausmus concurred with Verlander's positive note about Rondon, though he added a word of caution.
"He looked really good, yeah," Ausmus said. "Again, with him it's been the day after, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that it's been the same as recent track record where he's felt pretty good coming in the next day, but we'll know more tomorrow.
"But as far as the simulated live BP, he looked strong," Ausmus added. "Threw all of his pitches, 25 pitches."
