Finally back on the mound, Max Scherzer's expectations are as high as ever: 'There's only one standard'

Yahoo

3 days ago

CLEVELAND — By most measures, the Blue Jays' 5-4 loss on Wednesday in Cleveland would qualify as one of the more disappointing defeats of the year. A late lead surrendered. Struggles to convert with runners in scoring position. Outs on the basepaths. Defensive miscues. Getting walked off in extra innings. All common ingredients for a not-so-fun ballgame.
Fixate on the nitty-gritty details, and a loss such as that might sting. But zoom out, and Wednesday was a good day for the Toronto Blue Jays, because Max Scherzer made his highly anticipated return to the rotation following a three-month absence due to a thumb injury. For as frustrating as the final five frames might've been for Toronto, the first five innings thrown by the 40-year-old provided a welcome counterbalance of optimism.
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On the surface, nothing about Scherzer's start was extraordinary. He allowed three runs on six hits across five innings of work, struck out four and walked three. He threw 83 pitches, 55 for strikes. But for a pitcher of Scherzer's stature — one who has accomplished virtually everything a major-league starter could dream of — each outing carries significance regardless of the stat line, as every appearance offers an opportunity to climb higher on the all-time leaderboards. And for a Blue Jays team still trying to find its groove in the thick of the AL wild-card race, the addition of Scherzer in the rotation could provide a jolt and some much-needed momentum.
Scherzer's start on Wednesday — the 459th of his major-league career, more than all but 81 pitchers in MLB's 150-year history — featured some encouraging signs, as well as a few hiccups. A 25-pitch first inning featured a lengthy battle with leadoff man Steven Kwan that resulted in a walk, a José Ramírez RBI single and three strikeouts. Scherzer's fastball peaked at 95.2 mph in the opening frame — besting his season-high of 95.1 across nine starts in 2024 — to get Lane Thomas looking on the outer half.
After needing 17 total pitches to navigate the next two innings unscathed, Scherzer encountered some unusual trouble in the fourth. With two outs, a runner on third and Nolan Jones at the plate, Scherzer committed two pitch-clock violations when he came set before Jones was alert to the ball. Doing so once is just a warning, but the second violation in the same at-bat results in an automatic ball. That came in a full count and thus granted Jones a two-strike walk.
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'[Jones] was tapping the plate, and usually when hitters tap the plate, that means they're ready, and then they look up. He was tapping the plate and still looking down,' Scherzer explained afterward. 'And so that just threw off the rhythm … Usually, when you tap the plate, you're ready to go. So that's why I was coming set early, even though I thought it was on time.'
Three pitches later, Gabriel Arias drove a double into the right-center-field gap to bring in two runs. It was an unfortunate sequence, but Scherzer had no interest in using the violations as an excuse.
'[Umpire Bill Miller] made the right call,' he said. 'He wasn't looking; I get it. I talked to [Miller] about it, and it is what it is. I'm not going to blame the clock. I made a bad pitch to the next hitter, and that's why they scored those runs.'
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Scherzer bounced back the following frame, holding the top of Cleveland's order in check to complete five innings without further damage. Still, the blip in the fourth inning, highlighted by a poorly located fastball to Arias, exemplified the razor-thin margin between failure and success at the highest level, particularly for a pitcher such as Scherzer who expects excellence of himself each and every time out.
'He just keeps that level of intensity,' rotation mate Kevin Gausman said Tuesday. 'You see rookies when they first come up, they have that level of trying to prove themselves. Some guys kind of lose that as time goes on.
'Well, Max never lost that. Every time he pitches, it's like he's still trying to prove to everybody that he is who he is.'
'He is constantly thinking about pitching'
Scherzer's initial assessment of his return outing? 'A little rusty. I pitched good, but I didn't pitch great. There were a couple pitches there that changed the ball game, and I got to be better in those situations.'
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Stuff-wise, Scherzer said he felt good about how his repertoire looked after such a lengthy layoff. The velocity was in a good spot, and his offspeed and breaking pitches flashed as effective offerings. But without the overpowering arsenal that he wielded in his prime, Scherzer is well aware that his stuff alone will no longer carry an outing.
"It's an execution thing — where the ball ends up. When I'm right, when I'm pitching well, I get the ball to spots, and I hold myself to that standard. And there's only one standard,' he said. 'I don't sit here and celebrate good. I have a standard, and that's great. And I can execute pitches at a great level. And that's what I strive for. … I got to figure out how to do it and what it's going to take."
Even when he was sidelined, Scherzer's expectations for himself were apparent to his new teammates. It's a mindset that not only drives Scherzer's individual success but also had already permeated Toronto's clubhouse leading up to his return, which his teammates spoke about ahead of Wednesday's game.
'He loves talking baseball and doesn't stop talking baseball,' catcher Tyler Heineman said. 'It's nonstop, and it's a lot, but if you're able to sit with it and digest it, you can really learn a lot about every little thing. He doesn't know just about pitching and about all that, he knows about hitters' approaches, he knows about outfield positioning based on what he's seen. He knows the game so well that being able to pick his brain a little bit is just so invaluable.'
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Added Gausman: 'He's a baseball rat. He is constantly thinking about pitching. If he's not doing it, he's talking about someone else doing it and how they go about doing it and kind of what he would do differently if he was them. He just cannot turn that off, and that's why he's been so good.'
'Anytime you have a guy who has had so much success in the major leagues and so much experience in big games on really good teams, that kind of experience is really amazing to have around,' infielder Ernie Clement said. 'He's been awesome to have around. He expects a lot out of us.'
Staying on the mound at 40
Yet for as impactful as Scherzer has been in the clubhouse, his greatest value to Toronto remains on the field. And his ability to contribute will depend entirely on how his body holds up. One of baseball's most durable starting pitchers through his spectacular prime in the 2010s, Scherzer has navigated myriad physical setbacks over the past half-decade, with the thumb injury the latest ailment to interrupt the latter stages of the legendary right-hander's career.
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He departed his first start of the season on March 29 early due to lat tightness but explained later that it was tied to a recurring issue with his thumb that he needed to iron out before returning to the mound. Scherzer reiterated this when discussing what he'll monitor in the coming days to ensure he's in the best physical position to take the ball moving forward.
As manager John Schneider stressed before and after Scherzer's return, the short-term focus is how Scherzer responds physically in between outings; the days and weeks ahead will dictate plenty about what the team can expect from him as far as workload. But if Scherzer can manage the day-to-day quest for durability, it will be fascinating to see what level of pitcher he can be for Toronto.
It's no surprise — and entirely appropriate for a future first-ballot Hall of Famer — that Scherzer continues to hold himself to the highest standard. But an impartial assessment of his chances to make an impact at this stage of his career would probably be more bearish. Look no further than the trio of older right-handers who signed nearly identical free-agent contracts this winter: 42-year-old Justin Verlander, 41-year-old Charlie Morton and 37-year-old Alex Cobb signed one-year, $15 million deals in the offseason, just below the $15.5 million pact Scherzer inked in February.
Verlander is still touching 97 mph but hasn't earned a win in 12 starts with the Giants, and he has a 4.52 ERA. Cobb remains on the injured list due to a hip injury and has yet to throw a pitch for Detroit. Morton has looked better recently, but his ERA is an ugly 5.63 after a miserable April. For Scherzer, who turns 41 next month, to have only eight innings pitched for the Blue Jays with July around the corner is surely disappointing, but there's still ample time for him to make good on his contract — and clear the ultra-low bar set by his veteran peers.
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Every situation and every pitcher is different, but it's crucial context for the uphill battle Scherzer faces. And for a pitcher who has spent his entire career pitching like he has something to prove, perhaps such a daunting challenge will only bring out more greatness.
'We're taking it a day at a time,' Schneider said postgame Wednesday. 'But watching what he did tonight, going forward, it means a ton.
'He's one of the best competitors of this generation of baseball. And when you get that out there on the mound every fifth day, it's really exciting.'