Tigers' Justin Verlander: Recovery 'slower than expected'

Field Level Media|published: Thu 16th April, 13:02 2026

Mar 30, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander (35) throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

Detroit Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander's recovery from a hip injury is "going a little slower" than anticipated, manager A.J. Hinch said Thursday.

Verlander, 43, landed on the 15-day injured list on April 5 with left hip inflammation. The three-time Cy Young Award winner pitched a bullpen session on Wednesday.

"I think he's doing OK. I don't think he's necessarily taking a step forward, and he hasn't taken a step back," Hinch said. "He had a bullpen yesterday that went OK. It wasn't quite to the level that I think he wanted or that we wanted, but it wasn't a setback of some sort of making things worse. We're going to take it day by day."

Hinch said Verlander will travel with the team for this weekend's series at Boston and "will do something there."

"It's going a little slower than I think he anticipated or we anticipated, but that's OK," Hinch continued. "We've got to make sure we get this right, because it's not quite to 100% yet where we can advance to game activity."

Making his first start for Detroit since the 2017 season, Verlander gave up five runs on six hits in 3 2/3 innings in his only start so far this season on March 30 at Arizona. He took the loss in a 9-6 setback against the Diamondbacks.

Verlander is 266-159 with a 3.33 ERA in 556 career games (all starts) across 21 seasons with the Tigers (2005-17, 2026), Houston Astros (2017-20, 2022-24), New York Mets (2023) and San Francisco Giants (2025). He leads all active pitchers in wins and ranks eighth all-time in strikeouts (3,554).

-Field Level Media

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