Ricky Sanchez

Justin Verlander reveals the game that convinced him to stop throwing as hard as he could “The whole knock on me early in my career was that I threw too many pitches. I’d throw 120 pitches, but I was only going six innings.” “I had a game in Boston where we really needed me to get deep in the game. Our bullpen was shot. I go out the first couple innings, and I look up and I’ve got sixty-something pitches.” “To me, the most important thing for that game was to chew innings. I was like, ‘I can’t keep this pace.’ So I ended up slowing myself down. I was throwing fastballs at 89. I threw a changeup in that game at 91 and threw a fastball at 89 in the same game.” “I just pulled the throttle way back. I was like, ‘Man, here, hit it. Put it in play.’ All of a sudden, I was like, ‘Man, I am really able to hit my spot.’” “I basically took that mentality and flipped it going into the next season. Let me try starting games like this and then building up as I go. If I get in trouble, I’ve always got it in my back pocket.” “I always viewed it from the hitter’s perspective as you’re facing three different pitchers in three different at-bats, and they’re progressively getting harder to hit.”