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Two weeks from now, JV will be throwing in Lakeland and drilling with pitching coach Rich Dubee at Joker Marchant Stadium.
As his off-season leisure life winds down, Justin Verlander visited Universal Studios in Orlando, 60 miles northeast of his spring training field. It's a time when boys just wanna have fun, so the tourist from Detroit mugged for this selfie and shares it on Instagram Wednesday evening.
A few tags -- including #creepyclown and #scary -- are his only caption.
In that lighthearted spirit, we wonder what frightens to the Tigers' star. What else besides a theme park clown might give the Tigers' star a jolt?
These are among early replies on social media, where we asked before posting this:
- "Billy Butler returning to the AL Central." -- Lynn Heraty of Harsens Island, referring to a former Kansas City Royals slugger (2007-14) who was an arch-nemesis and broke up a potential no-hitter in 2014
- "Finding out Kate's iCloud got hacked." -- Luke Maouri of Sterling Heights, referring to fiancée Kate Upton
- "The Tigers' 2016 season." -- Gary Wolf
- "As scary as handing over a one run lead to the bullpen in the ninth." -- Anonymous
- "To this day, Pennywise haunts my dreams." -- Kirk Pinho of Pontiac, referring to a dancing clown who's the title character and main antagonist of "It," a 1986 horror novel by Stephen King
Steven Strachn of Pittsford, Mich., takes a different approach with his suggested caption: "The man can't go anywhere without people asking him for pointers on their fastball."
► Your turn now: This clown is as scary to Verlander as . . . what?
Lob your pitch below, as a Facebook comment or a tweet here.
No prize -- just major league visibility for comedy scouts.
And if you'll be in the Sunshine State during late February or March, Tigers spring training tickets are on sale here.
