WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The man who made his major-league debut donning Batman cleats once supplied enough swagger to captivate a city. He slashed at his throat, told the entire sport he would “shove it up everyone’s f—ing a—” and spun 24 of the most consequential curveballs in Houston Astros history.
Time and trials have tamed Lance McCullers Jr. Injuries have curtailed his career and rendered him almost unrecognizable from his rookie season. He’s been married for a decade and is the doting dad of two growing daughters, difficult to believe for a fan base that first fell in love with him as an 18-year-old flamethrower.
“I’m old now,” McCullers said with a smile.
McCullers will turn 33 years old in October. He has thrown 103 innings across the past four seasons, two of which he missed entirely while recovering from arm surgeries. Star-crossed does not begin to describe a career that could be nearing its conclusion.
The five-year, $85 million contract extension McCullers signed in 2021 will expire after this season. After it does, McCullers may not seek another, a sobering reality the right-hander laid bare during an emotional 10-minute interview before the Astros’ first full-squad workout on Monday morning.
“I’m not coming in the year, like, ‘My gosh, if I don’t pitch well or if I’m not healthy, what am I going to do?’” McCullers said.
“I’m going to be able to provide for my family and we’re going to be able 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. It’s not like something for me where it has to swing one way or the other.”
According to Spotrac, McCullers will finish the 2026 season with $99.9 million in career earnings. He closed out the Astros’ first American League pennant and started the final game of their first World Series title. McCullers made the 2017 All-Star team and finished seventh in balloting for the 2021 Cy Young Award.
McCullers is a face of Houston’s golden era, even if it’s been harder to get a glimpse of it on the mound. He could not throw another major-league pitch and his legacy within the city and franchise will remain intact. Recent conversations with his wife, Kara, brought clarity to a pitcher confronting a crossroads.
“I think I just need to kind of let go, stop trying to control everything, stop trying to just micromanage everything,” McCullers said. “I would love to be good, not because I want to necessarily continue to play, but just because I would love to be good for this organization and this fan base in my last year here.”
How that will unfold is a mystery. McCullers finished last season with a 6.51 ERA across 55 1/3 innings. He threw four or fewer frames in seven of his 13 starts, forcing the club to move him into a relief role late in the season. Both manager Joe Espada and general manager Dana Brown have insisted McCullers will be treated as a starter this spring.
Lance McCullers Jr. entered spring training after a healthy offseason for the first time in five years. (Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)
“He had a really good offseason physically. He is healthy, but he’s in a really good frame of mind, and I think that’s what’s so important,” Espada said. “Him believing that he still has the stuff, the capability and desire to put people away. He can do that. He’s shown that in the past and he did it this past season.”
McCullers is not guaranteed a spot in Houston’s starting rotation, though his $18 million salary and stature within the organization make it hard to believe he won’t at least open the season there.
Team officials are encouraged that, for the first time in five years, McCullers had a healthy offseason. He has sought to vary the location of his sinker and curb the use of his sweeper, which he acknowledged being “obsessed” with last season. McCullers said he will incorporate his four-seam fastball more and try to get more differentiation between his changeup and sinker.
“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. The hitters haven’t told us, have the adjustments worked? Will my health hold? Will guys rehabbing health hold?”
These same questions have shrouded McCullers for much of the past seven seasons. Since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2019, McCullers has thrown 320 1/3 innings. More than half of them came in 2021, the only major-league season in which he’s made more than 22 starts.
Before it began, McCullers signed the extension that is soon to expire. He did so after informing his agent, Scott Boras, that he had no interest in pitching anywhere else other than Houston — the franchise that drafted him in 2012, nurtured his ascent into adulthood and made him a major leaguer.
“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.”
“If the future for me is to be home with (my family), I’ll be happy with that. 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.”