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Justin Verlander gives perfect response to reporter's mute button error, Kate Upton reference

IMG_6598by:Nick Kosko•01/13/25•

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Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Verlander had an interesting interaction with a reporter during a Zoom call as he was introduced as a new member of the San Francisco Giants.

Verlander, who will be 42 by the time the season starts, is now on the fourth team of his future Hall of Famer career. But the gaffe with a reporter about his wife Kate Upton is already a highlight of his tenure with the team.

Since he was using Upton’s Zoom account, a reporter took notice of his display name but was caught on a hot mic since he was unmuted.

Verlander obviously took this in stride and actually changed his name.

“I’ll change it alright,” Verlander said. “I’ll change it.”

“JUSTIN VERLANDER (not Kate),” it read.

Everyone’s got jokes, even the newest pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. The Giants finished 80-82 last season, finishing 4th in the NL West.

Following a long career with the Detroit Tigers from 2005-17, Verlander was sent to the Houston Astros in the middle of the ’17 season. The nine-time All-Star was with the team for the majority of the next seven calendar years.

Verlander helped the Astros win the World Series in 2017 and ’22, while the team got back in 2021. 2020 was challenging since he underwent Tommy John Surgery and eventually missed the entire 2021 season.

But his comeback in 2022 was admirable, since he was a key cog to helping Houston win the title. Rather than come back to Houston though, Verlander signed a two-year, $86.7 million contract with the New York Mets.

But with injuries and some struggles with the team, Verlander was actually traded back to the Astros in August of 2023. He spent the remainder of the year with Houston and all of ’24 with the team.

Over the course of his career, Verlander is 262-147 with a 3.30 ERA over the course of 526 games started. He has 3,415.2 innings pitched and 3,416 strikeouts to go along with three no-hitters in his career.