WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Justin Verlander has been through more than a dozen Spring Trainings, but this time of year is not exactly a mundane one for the ace right-hander.

Verlander sets goals for himself each time he starts, even during Grapefruit League games that serve only one purpose -- preparing for the regular season.

The lack of importance of the final score does not change Verlander's approach. On Monday, he went into his start against the Mets with a couple of tasks in mind -- refine his changeup, a pitch that he works on plenty during Spring Training but doesn't rely a lot on during the year, and tinker with the inside fastball to right-handed hitters.

Verlander did all of this using very few pitches -- he threw a total of 25 over his two innings -- 20 of which were strikes.

Of the seven changeups he threw, Verlander estimated four were “pretty good,” and he was happy with the results of his fastball implementation.

"I was pleased to see 94, 95 [mph] the first inning," Verlander said. "Then the second inning, I just kind of backed down a little bit, trying to feel the game a little bit. Overall, a good day."

The game, which ended in a 3-3 tie at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, moved at a quick pace in the early innings, which is not surprising, considering who was on the mound. Verlander and top pitching prospect Forrest Whitley each dominated, combining for four scoreless innings and four strikeouts and retiring all 12 batters faced.

Realistically, the Astros' Spring Training games over the next month are not going to be an audition for either pitcher. Verlander, 14 years into a probable Hall of Fame career, is obviously cemented into the Astros' rotation.

And Whitley, though considered baseball's top overall pitching prospect and a sure-fire future ace, is not likely to make the Major League team out of Spring Training and is probably ticketed for Triple-A to start the season.

So in that respect, Verlander and Whitley had a lot in common during Monday's game, in that they are both simply preparing for their respective seasons, without much outside pressure.

"Whitley had a lot of poise, and he used all his pitches," Astros manager AJ Hinch said. "His stuff is real, you can see that from the very beginning. He's got good stuff and pretty good mound presence, and he makes hitters uncomfortable. I can certainly see first-hand why everybody's impressed with him."

Whitley identified his fastball as his "out pitch" this game, the best pitch of his repertoire.

"I was getting in the zone when I needed to, I was getting it down when I needed to," Whitley said. "I didn't get a whole lot of swings and misses, but I did exactly what I wanted to do. Overall, I was pretty happy with that pitch."

Any first-game jitters?

"I didn't feel that anxious," Whitley said. "It was fun. I had a really good time, I felt really good. I threw about as well as I could. I was pretty happy with it."

The 21-year-old right-hander was also happy to follow the 36-year-old Verlander in the pitching order with a similar performance as his predecessor.

"That's super cool," Whitley said. "That's some big shoes to fill, coming behind Verlander. He was efficient. I tried to replicate that efficiency."