Climbing Tal's Hill
Fansided

Houston Astros: Player Milestones to watch out for this season.

By Simon Chahayed

HOUSTON, TX - OCTOBER 30: Justin Verlander #35 of the Houston Astros celebrates with Josh Reddick #22 after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers during the tenth inning in game five of the 2017 World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 30, 2017 in Houston, Texas. The Astros defeated the Dodgers 13-12. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - OCTOBER 30: Justin Verlander #35 of the Houston Astros celebrates with Josh Reddick #22 after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers during the tenth inning in game five of the 2017 World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 30, 2017 in Houston, Texas. The Astros defeated the Dodgers 13-12. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next

2018 Milestones that can be reached:

Getty Images
Getty Images /

Justin Verlander

Milestone: 200 wins, 2,500 strikeouts, and 400 games started.

It’s exhilarating to watch him throw heat. But these are three feats worthy of cheering him on that much more.

Justin Verlander is only 12 wins shy of 200 career wins, 84 strikeouts away from a whopping 2,500 and 15 games away from starting 400. Verlander may have cemented himself now as a future hall of famer with the recent title. The Astros are certainly lucky to have lured this darling in the 2017 free agency which led them to their first championship in franchise history. It was a history-changing moment when he and Kate Upton decided to say yes.

Last season, after being acquired by the Astros, Verlander won all 5 of his starts. I projected him to win 20 games this season. Fangraphs fans project Verlander to have roughly 32 starts. They have him going 16 – 7 this season.

When should we expect him to reach these milestones?

The earliest we could see him cash in on his 200th win would be Memorial Day weekend. In all likelihood that accomplishment may not come until mid-August. Verlander would join the 200 win club with only two other active players. Bartolo Colon and CC Sabathia. 200 is far from CY Young’s 511 total wins, but Justin has at least 300 wins in sight.

Additionally, he only needs 84 strikeouts to reach 2,500 for his career to move him from 41st on the list to 33rd, just under Christy Mathewson. With projecting roughly 200 Ks this season, he could find himself in the top 25 all-time amongst the greats like Tom Glavine. That’s nice company to keep if you ask me.

Lastly, projected to start over 30 games this season, Verlander is expected to be the first if not only active pitcher to start over 400 games this season needing 15 started games.

Home/Astros News