Astros' Lance McCullers Jr. reveals heartbreaking conversation with five-year-old daughter after death threats

Houston Astros star Lance McCullers Jr. has made a major move to protect his family after vile death threats were aimed at his kids.

It emerged earlier this month that the pitcher and his family were targeted with the horrific abuse following a rough stint on the mound for the MLB player. McCullers, 31, and wife Kara have two young daughters together.

McCullers reached out to the Astros front office over the threats and after the news reached the ears of team owner Jim Crane, he offered the right-hander 24-hour security.

'You have to at that point,' McCullers said, via the Associated Press this week.

McCullers also revealed that the abuse forced him into a tough conversation with his five-year-old daughter, Ava.

'She asked me when I came home: "Daddy, like, what is threats? Who wants to hurt us? Who wants to hurt me?"' McCullers said earlier this week. 'So those conversations are tough to deal with.'

The threats came after the Astros right-hander, a two-time World Series winner, allowed seven runs from a 10-run first inning against the Cincinnati Reds on May 10 - his second game in nearly three years due to injuries.

'I understand people are very passionate and people love the Astros and love sports, but threatening to find my kids and murder them is a little bit tough to deal with,' McCullers said at the time.

'So just as a father, I think there have been many, many threats over the years aimed at me, mostly, and I think actually one or two people from other issues around baseball actually had to go to jail for things like that.

'But I think bringing kids into the equation, threatening to find them or next time they see us in public they're going to stab my kids to death, things like that, it's tough to hear as a dad.'

Joe Espada, the Astros manager, added: 'There are people who are threatening his life and the life of his kids because of his performance.

'It is very unfortunate that we have to deal with this. After all he's done for this city, for his team, the fact that we have to talk about that in my office... I got kids too, and it really drives me nuts that we have to deal with this. Very sad. Very, very sad.'

McCullers was making just his second start for the Astros since Game 3 of the 2022 World Series.

A series of right arm issues have derailed his career since that night and his return to the team this year was seen as huge success story.

'He hasn't pitched in 2 1/2 years. We've got to give some time, all right?' Espada said.

'This can't happen. I'm really upset that this happened to athletes, and ... you know, we're trying our best. Everybody's trying our best. But the fact I've gotta go to my office and deal with this? Come on. We're better than that.'

McCullers has spent his career with the Astros and was part of World Series championship teams in 2017 and 2022.

He missed all of the 2023 and 2024 seasons because of arm issues and made his return at the end of April.