Justin Verlander
Justin Verlander
Justin Brooks Verlanderis an American professional baseball pitcher for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth20 February 1983
CityManakon-sabait, VA
CountryUnited States of America
certain explain few last middle pitching remember sitting situations taking talk time
When he was pitching in Oakland last week, he'd talk to me between a few of the innings. I remember sitting there, thinking, 'He's in the middle of the game. He's taking the time to explain to me what he's doing in certain situations and why.' It was pretty cool.
artist want pitching
When an artist wants to paint a painting, they have all those things in their head that they want to portray on a canvas. It's the same thing when I'm pitching. I have all these thoughts going through my head about how I want to pitch: which pitch I want to throw here, and why do I want to throw it?
age consider definitely great talk
We talk all the time. There is that age difference, but I'd like to consider us friends. He's a great guy. If he's got things to tell me, I'm definitely going to listen.
bit felt habit last relying stuff sure throwing using whereas
That's the way I pitched all last year, using the off-speed to set it up a little bit more. I felt like sometimes I get into a habit of throwing too many fastballs and just relying on that, whereas I'm sure I could throw a lot more off-speed stuff for strikes.
double glad settled whether
I was glad to get that double play. Whether I settled down or not, that's a different question.
care matter supposed
It doesn't really matter who's (the opposing pitcher). If I go out and do what I'm supposed to do, things take care of themselves.
both hoping learn
I'm hoping we can both learn a lot from each other and improve.
believe cool fan growing mario played type videogames whatever
Growing up, I played 'Ken Griffey, Jr. Baseball' and just whatever I could get my hands on. When I was really young, I was a big fan of Mario and that type of stuff. I still play videogames now, so it was really cool for me to be able to play as myself on '2K6' or '2K7,' I believe it was, when I was a rookie.
amazing consoles days games good gotten playing video whatever whether
For me, seeing the progression of video games and consoles - whether it be PlayStation, Xbox, or whatever - I think just seeing how good they've gotten from the days when I first started playing is just amazing.
battle good knew last rough stuff tried
From the get-go, I didn't have what I had last time, or my good stuff in general. I knew it was going to be a rough day, and I tried to battle through it.
battle time trying
Obviously, the first time out, I'm trying to make an impression. It's a little unnerving, so I had to battle through that a little bit. All and all, I think I did OK.
changed double guys mentality punch trying
I was really trying to get a ground-ball double play. But once I got to two strikes, my mentality changed over to try to punch these guys out.
bit cushion ease felt four gave helped innings runs spring training
I felt like I was in a groove. Obviously, the four runs did help. It gave me a cushion there. But I really feel that having those innings in Spring Training helped me, and I feel a little bit more at ease this year.
bunch far great league major middle pitchers sign solid tigers
We've got a bunch of young, solid pitchers out there that can all pitch at the major league level. So I think it's a great sign for the organization and for the Tigers in the future. As far as being in the middle of it, it's fun.