Three-time Cy Young Award-winner Justin Verlander joined the San Francisco Giants for the 2025 season on a one-year, $15 million deal last month. Verlander is set to start his 20th major league campaign this year, and the nine-time All-Star celebrated his 42nd birthday this past Thursday
Ben Verlander, younger brother of Justin Verlander, disclosed some of the antics that had taken place at the San Francisco Giants spring training facility in Surprise, Arizona, on the occasion. The Giants players led by third baseman Matt Chapman played out a hilarious act as a light-hearted tribute to the aging pitcher.
On Saturday, Ben Verlander posted a photograph from the Giants training facility showing Justin Verlander sitting in a wheelchair. He also shared a message on X with the image.
Verlander was the second overall pick of the 2004 MLB Draft for the Detroit Tigers and made his major league debut with the team the following year. He was named the 2006 American League Rookie of the Year and went on to win three Cy Young Awards as well as the 2011 AL MVP. Verlander also won two World Series rings with the Houston Astros in 2017 and 2022.
Justin Verlander is considered one of the last of a dying breed of workhorse aces that are no longer the norm, as starting pitchers barely last more than five innings in the game today. Verlander recently made headlines for blaming the dependence on analytics in baseball as the chief cause for the rapidly diminishing importance of the starting pitcher’s role.
