July 1, 2012
DETROIT, MI-- Former ODU pitching great Justin Verlander ('04) has been selected tothis year's Major League Baseball All-Star Game set for July 10 at Kauffman Stadiumin Kansas City, MO. He will start the game.
Last year's AL Cy Young and MVP winner joins David Price of Tampa Bay, CC Sabathia of the Yankees, Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox, Jered Weaver of the Angels, C.J. Wilson of the Angels and relievers Jim Johnson of Baltimore, Chris Perez of Cleveland and Fernando Rodney of Tampa Bay.
The 6-5 Verlander is 8-5 with a 2.69 earned run average. He leads the majors with 121 strikeouts in 123.2 innings, and only 29 walks. Opposing hitters are only hitting .204 against him. Earlier this season, Verlander pitched a one hitter with 12 strikeouts against Pittsburgh.
Last year, Verlander won the AL's pitching triple crown, going 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and 250 strikeouts, the most wins in the major leagues since Oakland's Bob Welch went 27-6 in 1990. Verlander pitched his second career no-hitter at Toronto on May 7. The last starting pitcher to be named AL MVP was Roger Clemens of the Red Sox in 1986. The last pitcher to win the award was A's closer Dennis Eckersley in 1992.Other pitchers to win MVP and CY Young in the same year are Newcombe (1956), Sandy Koufax (1963), St.Louis' Bob Gibson and Detroit's Denny McLain (1968), Oakland's Vida Blue (1971), Milwaukee's Rollie Fingers (1981) and Detroit's Hernandez (1984).
While at ODU, Verlander was a Freshman All-American, two-time All-CAA, CAA Rookie of The Year and two-time ABCA All-Region selection. He is the all-time strikeout king in ODU, CAA and Virginia Division I history with 427 in just 335.2 innings of work. A Silver Medalist on the USA 2006 Pan Am team, Verlander was the 2006 American League Rookie of the Year.
Dan Hudson NEEDS SURGERYARIZONA -- A second opinion confirmed the first: D-backs right-hander and former two -time All-CAA pitcher Daniel Hudson ('08)) has a complete tear of his ulnar collateral ligament and will require Tommy John surgery. D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said Hudson would likely have a surgery date set Monday. Hudson got a second opinion from Dr. Lewis Yocum and it appears likely that Yocum will perform the surgery, which has become almost commonplace in baseball since it was first performed in 1974 by Dr. Frank Jobe. The recovery time is generally 12 months.
"Obviously, the success rate kind of speaks for itself," Hudson said Wednesday when he first learned of the tear. "People on my end, we're still keeping my fingers crossed. It's not a 100-percent success rate. ... I've got to go out there and get my rehab done and make sure I'm doing what I need to do to get back on the field as soon as possible."