“Really frustrating to watch” - Justin Verlander’s brother fed up with Giants pitcher’s “worst luck” after slow start to season

San Francisco Giants pitcher Justin Verlander has had a season to forget. The three-time Cy Young winner is winless in 15 games, the longest stretch for a Giants player and longest since 2023.

The veteran arm earned two runs and gave up four in six innings pitched in a 13-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. The damaging defeat prompted his brother and MLB analyst, Ben Verlander, to pen a mini rant on X, expressing sadness over his brother's luck.

"I’m going to vent. Yes it’s my brother. Yes I’m biased. But Justin’s stats 100% do not tell the story of this season. He’s had many very good starts with truly some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen. It makes no sense to me. Really frustrating to watch. He’s still throwing 97mph with nasty offspeed. That’s the end of me venting. Thank you," Ben wrote.

Despite Ben's understanding of his brother's game, Justin Verlander's fastball has been peppered this season. It's carrying a -7 run value, as per Statcast, with opposing batters having an expected Slugging percentage of .623 against the pitch. Even his curveball has a -4 run value, with a .385 expected average.

However, on the flipside, in 15 starts, Verlander has received just 3.8 runs per game, which explains his 0-7 record. He has a Fielding Independent Pitching value of 4.16, lower than his season's 4.70 ERA and a high .316 BABIP (batting average on balls in play) shows that the Giants' defense hasn't helped him much.

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Justin Verlander hopeful of a better second half after fixing his pitching stance

Justin Verlander's two-ER outing against the Phillies consisted of three errors from the Giants that resulted in yet another loss. However, his performance was much more controlled and disciplined since his six-earned run outing against the Athletics last week.

Verlander had gone back and assessed his deception. His upgraded technique saw him take the ball out of his hand earlier before his leg kick, resulting in a high 95.5 mph fastball velocity in his first pitch against the Phillies.

"I kind of just had this thought a couple of days ago, just to kind of force the issue a little bit, just get it out, get it kind of down where it used to be. It felt good in catch play, and I carried into the game today. I think immediately, the results were great. So yeah, quite optimistic,” Verlander said post-game.

Justin Verlander has a 1.42 WHIP this season, which is his worst since his rookie season. The nine-time All-Star will look for an improved second half after the Midsummer Classic this week.