Chicago — Justin Verlander’s looming return to the Tigers is taking a significant step.
The veteran starter and future Hall-of-Famer will make a rehab start for Triple-A Toledo on Tuesday, when the Mud Hens are playing in Iowa, Tigers manager AJ Hinch announced Sunday.
It will mark Verlander’s first game action since he made his long-awaited return to the Tigers on March 30, before landing on the injured list with left hip inflammation. Verlander is eligible to be activated any day, though he’s likely going to need multiple rehab starts before rejoining the Tigers.
“Getting him into competition is something we’ve been pushing for and he’s been pushing for,” Hinch said Sunday, before the series finale against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field. “We built his volume to a really comfortable level where we feel like he can take a normal start and deal with the odds and ends of a start, whether it’s various pitch counts, ups and downs.
“Happy that he’s getting to that next step.”
Hinch said Verlander will return to Detroit on Wednesday, where his progress will be reassessed and club brass will determine what the next step will be.
Verlander has been throwing bullpens and simulated games in his build-back toward a return to live game action. He was with the Tigers in Chicago, and will meet Toledo in Iowa for Tuesday’s game.
“This is a good step,” Hinch said. “This has been tough to overcome for him health-wise, and so getting him to this point where he can go out and freely compete and be himself on the mound and do all the things that’s expected of him was really the key to clear him.
“(In a rehab start), you can take some of the controllables away … go out and get three outs and then sit down and go do it again as a normal pitcher would. That’s the next challenge.”
Verlander, 43, signed a one-year, $13-million contract to return to the Tigers this winter, reuniting him with the team that drafted him and with whom he became a star. He led the team to two World Series appearances and earned 2006 American League rookie of the year in 2006 and AL Most Valuable Player and Cy Young honors in 2011, before he was traded to the Houston Astros in the summer of 2017.
His one start for the Tigers this season was a rough one, allowing five runs on six hits in 3.2 innings at Arizona on March 30. He was scheduled to start for the Tigers at Comerica Park on “Sunday Night Baseball” on April 5, but that was scrapped when he landed on the injured list.
Keider Montero has been a more-than-capable fill-in for Verlander. He scheduled to make his 11th start of the season for the Tigers on Sunday.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Justin Verlander will get his first rehab start on Tuesday in Toledo
