Houston Astros Set Spring Training Debut for Oft-Injured World Series Champ

The Houston Astros will finally have their World Series champion pitcher return to the mound for game action soon.

Cameron Zunkel | Mar 15, 2025

Feb 20, 2025; West Palm Beach, FL, USA; Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. (43) poses for a photo at the Houston Astros media day. / Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

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Houston Astros

The Houston Astros have most of their rotation figured out. But they will be getting a good pitcher back very soon.

Lance McCullers Jr has been rehabbing all of spring training. He started by throwing bullpens, and he was able to get up to 90 MPH without pain, which was a very good sign.

The right-handed pitcher then graduated to live at-bats against his own team recently. In those live sessions, McCullers reached 94 MPH, which is around what he was at the last time he was able to pitch in the MLB.

The 31-year-old is ready to take the next step and pitch in a real game.

Chandler Rome of the Athletic posted an update on X (formerly twitter) about the pitcher. Manager Joe Espada has made it official that McCullers will start Tuesday's game against the Washington Nationals.

Lance McCullers Jr. will start Tuesday night's Grapefruit League game against the Nationals, Joe Espada said.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) March 14, 2025

This is huge news not only for the Astros, but for McCullers himself.

The former first-round pick has not pitched off a big league mound since the 2022 season. He missed 2023 after getting surgery on his elbow, and some setbacks held him out the entire 2024 season, as well.

With the news of him being back to the mid-90s with his velocity while feeling no pain, Houston should be able to get a very solid pitcher back for this season.

In his career, McCullers has a 3.48 ERA, 1.251 WHIP, a .226 oBA and 800 strikeouts in 718.2 innings pitched. When he is healthy, McCullers does a fantastic job missing barrels and getting hitters to chase out of the zone.

Now, he will probably not be used as a starting pitcher in the regular season. Houston has their rotation pretty much set, and the righty is just not ready to be extended that much in a game. That is not to say he will not get there, but he will most likely be a bullpen pitcher to start the year.

It would be smart for the Astros to give him clean innings and make sure there is as little stress as possible during his outings. But no matter the situation he is put in, McCullers is going to be an asset for the Astros and their pitching staff.

With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how the Florida native attacks hitters when he takes the mound against the Nationals. Will he go back to his normal sequencing of being breaking ball heavy? Or will he start to use his fastball more with the hopes of staying healthy?

Whatever the approach McCullers decides to take does not matter as much. The Astros are just happy to be getting him back on the bump.

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