The Houston Astros might have received some very good news on Wednesday afternoon.
After throwing his third live batting practice of the spring with no issues, Lance McCullers Jr. – who has not pitched in a game for the Astros since Game 3 of the 2022 World Series – is scheduled to make a Grapefruit League start sometime next week.
According to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, McCullers Jr. said he hit a velocity of 94 mph and felt completely fine in the 30 pitch live batting practice session, inspiring hope he could potentially return to the mound in an official capacity soon.
Despite the successful session however, McCullers is not rushing things along.
“Yeah, it’s exciting, but one day at a time. Overall, I’m still working on some stuff delivery- and four-seam related, but it’s a never-ending tinker,” he said, adding how encouraged he was by the session. “I was really happy with today. The velo was pretty solid and it held the whole time, which was nice to see. Offspeed was really sharp. Hitters had good things to say about the way the offspeed was coming out of the hand. I think, at this point, it’s really about kind of continuing to sharpen up a little bit and [then] jump into the deep ends of the game.”
McCullers could start either next Tuesday against the Washington Nationals or next Wednesday against the New York Mets in West Palm Beach.
The 31-year-old has lost the last two full seasons to injury and subsequent complications after also missing a huge chunk of the 2022 season.
Houston originally acquired him in the first round of the 2012 MLB draft and he made his debut in 2015, becoming a key focal point of the team’s American League dominance before he started dealing with the injury problems which have ailed him for the last three years.
McCullers has made 127 starts in his regular season career and boasts a 3.48 ERA and a record of 49-32 with 800 strikeouts in 718.2 innings pitched. With similar numbers in his playoff career, he has been critical to the Astros success over the years.
Both the team and fans would love nothing more than to see McCullers make a full and complete recovery while being able to contribute to the rotation this season. Still a relatively young pitcher, the right-hander could have a lot of baseball still in front of him if his body can hold up.
For as eager as everyone is however, it sounds like all precautions are being taken in getting him back on the field and doing what he does so well.