Deadspin | Tigers’ Justin Verlander: Recovery ‘slower than expected’ 
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).
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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
![Ayush Shetty: Asian Championship run gives me confidence that I can maintain level for longer period Last month, when India’s squad for the Thomas & Uber Cup was announced, Ayush Shetty was a young-and-upcoming 20-year-old who was getting his maiden call up.When India takes to the court in Denmark from April 24, he will be its most in-form player, having made a stirring run to the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) final in China last week.He has broken into the world’s top-20 and there will be expectations galore. But he is confidence personified, despite 2026 being only his second full year on the senior circuit.“My expectations [from myself] are always high, and I take people’s expectations as a challenge,” Ayush said at the Centre for Badminton Excellence here on Thursday.“When I won the Super 300 [U.S. Open in 2025], I did not see it as a surprise. Even when I got a confirmed medal at the Asian Championship, I believed that I could win the tournament,” the World No. 18 added.This confidence manifested in three straight victories over top-10 players at BAC – the then World No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn, No. 4 Jonatan Christie and No. 7 Li Shi Feng.“I had never beaten three top-10 players,” stated Ayush, who was No. 25 then. “It has always been like one victory [over an elite player] and then a loss. This run gives me the confidence that I can maintain my level for a longer period. Even my second round opponent Chi Yu Jen (No. 20) was a very tricky player.“Going into the All England [in early March], I felt that I was at my 100%. But the results were different (first round defeat). That is why BAC was important – to keep my confidence and belief high.”The one dull moment in an otherwise golden few days for Ayush was the retirement on Tuesday of double Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen, whom he idolises and has even trained with in Dubai.“It’s a bit sad. I always wanted him to retire on the court. He deserved it,” said Ayush about the great Dane who last played competitively in October 2025.“I had told him in 2024 that we will play [competitively] soon. He said ‘sure, I have a couple of more years’. I will always have the regret that I could never play him.”Published on Apr 16, 2026 #Ayush #Shetty #Asian #Championship #run #confidence #maintain #level #longer #period](https://i2.wp.com/ss-i.thgim.com/public/incoming/nuklw5/article70870299.ece/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1200/AFP_A7FV7G8.jpg?ssl=1 "Ayush Shetty: Asian Championship run gives me confidence that I can maintain level for longer period Last month, when India’s squad for the Thomas & Uber Cup was announced, Ayush Shetty was a young-and-upcoming 20-year-old who was getting his maiden call up.When India takes to the court in Denmark from April 24, he will be its most in-form player, having made a stirring run to the Badminton Asia Championships (BAC) final in China last week.He has broken into the world’s top-20 and there will be expectations galore. But he is confidence personified, despite 2026 being only his second full year on the senior circuit.“My expectations [from myself] are always high, and I take people’s expectations as a challenge,” Ayush said at the Centre for Badminton Excellence here on Thursday.“When I won the Super 300 [U.S. Open in 2025], I did not see it as a surprise. Even when I got a confirmed medal at the Asian Championship, I believed that I could win the tournament,” the World No. 18 added.This confidence manifested in three straight victories over top-10 players at BAC – the then World No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn, No. 4 Jonatan Christie and No. 7 Li Shi Feng.“I had never beaten three top-10 players,” stated Ayush, who was No. 25 then. “It has always been like one victory [over an elite player] and then a loss. This run gives me the confidence that I can maintain my level for a longer period. Even my second round opponent Chi Yu Jen (No. 20) was a very tricky player.“Going into the All England [in early March], I felt that I was at my 100%. But the results were different (first round defeat). That is why BAC was important – to keep my confidence and belief high.”The one dull moment in an otherwise golden few days for Ayush was the retirement on Tuesday of double Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen, whom he idolises and has even trained with in Dubai.“It’s a bit sad. I always wanted him to retire on the court. He deserved it,” said Ayush about the great Dane who last played competitively in October 2025.“I had told him in 2024 that we will play [competitively] soon. He said ‘sure, I have a couple of more years’. I will always have the regret that I could never play him.”Published on Apr 16, 2026 #Ayush #Shetty #Asian #Championship #run #confidence #maintain #level #longer #period")
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