Lance McCullers Jr. Faces a Pivotal Season with the Astros – and Possibly His Last

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Once the firebrand with Batman cleats and a chip on his shoulder big enough to fuel a postseason run, Lance McCullers Jr. now speaks with the calm of a man who’s been through it – and come out the other side with perspective.

“I’m old now,” he said with a smile, and while that’s a bit of a stretch – he turns 33 in October – it’s clear McCullers is no longer the same wide-eyed 18-year-old flamethrower who burst onto the scene with swagger and a wipeout curveball. Injuries have reshaped his career, and time has softened some of the edges.

But the heart? Still there.

The fire? Still flickering.

McCullers has only logged 103 innings over the last four seasons, missing two of them entirely due to arm surgeries. It’s been a frustrating stretch for a pitcher who once looked like a cornerstone of the Astros’ rotation. Now, with his five-year, $85 million contract set to expire at season’s end, McCullers is facing a crossroads – and he’s not shying away from it.

“I’m not coming into the year thinking, ‘If I don’t pitch well or I’m not healthy, what am I going to do?’” he said.

“I’m going to be able to provide for my family, and we’re going to spend a lot of time together. But if I am healthy and that’s in the plan for me, I would love to keep playing baseball.”

That’s not an ultimatum. It’s a man being honest about where he is – physically, mentally, emotionally – as he enters what could be his final season in an Astros uniform.

And if it is? McCullers has already left a mark that won’t fade.

He was on the mound when Houston clinched its first American League pennant. He started the final game of their first World Series title run.

He made an All-Star team in 2017, finished seventh in Cy Young voting in 2021, and, according to Spotrac, will finish this season with nearly $100 million in career earnings. That’s a legacy, regardless of what comes next.

But make no mistake – McCullers still wants to pitch. He just wants to do it on his terms, and more than anything, he wants to be good for the organization that drafted him and the fan base that’s watched him grow up.

“I think I just need to kind of let go,” he said. “Stop trying to control everything. I would love to be good, not because I necessarily want to continue to play, but because I would love to be good for this organization and this fan base in my last year here.”

That’s the mindset he’s carrying into spring training – one that’s equal parts hopeful and realistic. McCullers ended last season with a 6.51 ERA over 55 1/3 innings.

He struggled to pitch deep into games, throwing four or fewer innings in more than half of his 13 starts. Eventually, the Astros moved him into a relief role.

Still, both manager Joe Espada and GM Dana Brown have made it clear: McCullers will be treated as a starter this spring. And there’s reason for optimism. For the first time in five years, he’s had a healthy offseason – no rehab, no setbacks, just training and refining.

“He had a really good offseason physically,” Espada said. “He is healthy, but he’s also in a really good frame of mind.

That’s what’s so important – him believing that he still has the stuff, the capability and desire to put people away. He can do that.

He’s shown that.”

McCullers knows it too. He’s made mechanical and strategic adjustments, dialing back his reliance on the sweeper – a pitch he admitted he was “obsessed” with last season – and refocusing on his four-seam fastball. He’s working to better differentiate his changeup from his sinker and vary the location of his pitches more effectively.

“There’s a lot of things going into the offseason I needed to accomplish, and where I stand now, I’ve accomplished those goals,” McCullers said. “But it has to carry into the game.

Everyone’s feeling good. Everyone’s stuff’s feeling good.

Everyone’s recovering well. But no one’s faced hitters yet.”

That’s the great unknown. Since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2019, McCullers has thrown just over 320 innings – more than half of them in 2021.

That season, he looked like the ace the Astros had long envisioned. But the years since have been a carousel of setbacks, rehabs, and frustration.

Through it all, McCullers has remained loyal to the only organization he’s ever known. He signed his extension in 2021 after telling agent Scott Boras he had no interest in pitching anywhere else. Houston is home – and not just because he’s worn the jersey for over a decade.

“I just want to have a nice last year with this uniform on,” McCullers said. “I’ve been in this organization since I was barely 18 years old. So it would be great to just have a nice last year here, and whatever the future holds, the future holds.”

Whether that future includes more baseball or more time at home with his wife and two daughters, McCullers seems at peace with either outcome. But don’t mistake peace for complacency. The competitor in him still wants to take the ball every fifth day, still wants to compete, still wants to show he can help a team win.

“If the future for me is to be home with [my family], I’ll be happy with that,” he said. “I’ll be content with that. If the future for me is to be in this game, if I can be healthy and I can help a team win, I’ll be happy with that too.”

For now, the focus is on one more run in Houston – one more chance to show the city that fell in love with him as a teenager that he’s still got something left in the tank. And if this is the final chapter? McCullers is determined to make it count.