Justin Verlander on Sunday learned that he made his 9th career All-Star team, and he gave a cool answer about earning his latest honor.
Verlander was asked whether early in his career he expected to become a 9-time All-Star. The Houston Astros pitcher decided to give an honest answer and admit that he always aimed to have this type of success.
.@JustinVerlander asked if early in his career he thought making 9 All-Star Teams was possible: “Do u want the honest answer or do u want the PR answer? Yeah, honestly,I did.I never shied away from wanting to be great. It’s 1 of those things that drives me & continually does so.” pic.twitter.com/hAxwCu8AE7
— Mark Berman (@MarkBerman_) July 11, 2022
“Do you want the honest answer or do you want the P.R. answer?” he asked. “Honestly, yeah I did. I never shied away from wanting to be great. It’s just one of those things that drives me and continually does so. I never really set potential goals or anything like that. I think as you keep going along and keep working hard, some numbers start to amass. I think sometimes these events happen where it’s like, ‘Wow, that’s really cool and impressive.’ I think had I told my younger self that I would have nine All-Star teams, that would be one of those things that’s like, ‘all right, that’s pretty cool.'”
That’s a great answer because it gives insight into Verlander’s personality and how driven he has been to be successful. He’s 39 now and still pitching at an extremely high level.
Just when Verlander seemed to be fading in his career, he was traded from Detroit to Houston and experienced a revival. This is Verlander’s third All-Star nod since being acquired by Houston in 2017, the same year he helped them win the World Series.
