Astros' Justin Verlander: Making season debut April 9

Verlander is scheduled to make his first start of the season April 9 against the Angels in Anaheim, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Verlander's status as a two-time Cy Young Award winner and future Hall of Famer would have made him a natural choice for the Opening Day nod, but the MLB lockout combined with his rehab from Tommy John surgery put him off schedule a bit. Though Framber Valdez will get the ball for the April 7 opener, Verlander will still be part of the team's rotation to begin the season, and he's not expected to face any major workload restrictions since he'll be just over 18 months removed from his Sept. 30, 2020 elbow procedure. While the usual caveats for spring training numbers apply, Verlander has looked as good as ever during his first three Grapefruit League outings, striking out 11 and holding hitters to a .167 average over 8.2 scoreless innings.