The stories of Max Scherzer’s ferocious intensity are legendary around baseball, a competitiveness that already is becoming contagious around the team he’ll soon begin to pitch for in his 18th Major League Baseball season.
The signs of the Scherzer influence apparently are being felt far and wide in Blue Jays camp, the first in-game glimpse of which was impressively on display during Tuesday’s Grapefruit League contest against the St. Louis Cardinals at TD Ballpark.
Down in Dunedin for two weeks now, Scherzer didn’t barge into the Jays clubhouse to make his presence felt. He didn’t have to.
Instead, his reputation preceded him, the aura of a three-time Cy Young Award winner with a well-earned status as one of the fiercest men on the mound in the modern game.
It certainly has been on display during the early days in Dunedin, as one observer related to us. On one of his first days that he was scheduled to face hitters in a live batting practice session, Scherzer was warmed up and ready to go and let it be known that he wanted hitters in the box and he wanted it now. Some quick scrambling resulted and Scherzer’s all-business demands were met.
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That vigour is something his teammates are sure to feed off of, especially his rotation mates. For Scherzer, the approach is simple, if pointed.
“You’re trying to go out there and compete, get as many outs as you can and go out there and win a ball game,” Scherzer said shortly after the signing of his one-year, $15.5-million US contract was made official. “So however you’ve got to do it … you can kick, scratch and claw to find any which way to get these guys out. And you live for that.”
Kick. Scratch. Claw.
In other words, there are pitchers with higher velocity, sexier spin rates and the other stuff that light up the tablets of the analytics gurus. But the art of pitching — and competing — still is (or should be) one of the great intangibles in the game. And throughout his stellar career, Mad Max has been a master.
WHAT ARE THE BLUE JAYS GETTING?
Will Scherzer be able to flirt with 200 innings as he did in his workhorse heyday? Almost certainly not. That famous right arm will turn 41 on July 27 when the Jays play one of Scherzer’s former teams, the Detroit Tigers, in their 107th game of the season.
But something in the 140-150 IP range — as he did in 2022 and 2023 seasons — could be realistic. Working under Jays pitching coach Pete Walker, who has done well keeping his pitchers healthy through the long grind of a season, will help.
Scherzer would never want to use the term load management, but expect his workload to be kept in check, especially after coming off a season in which back, triceps and hamstring ailments limited him to just 43.1 innings in just nine games in 2024.
You get the impression that the competitor in Scherzer relishes the challenge of cranking it up again for his seventh big-league team. The first outing on Tuesday offered a taste of all that is impressive about the veteran as Scherzer struck out four of the seven Cardinals he faced in his two innings.
The only blemish was a first-inning triple to the Victor Scott II — who was credited with a triple on a fly ball to deep centre that was misplayed by Jays outfielder Joey Loperfido.
“You’re constantly evolving,” Scherzer said. “Whether you’re at the top of your game or not, I’ve always thought you’re trying to get better. I’m always trying to add something, even if it’s a small thing, to get better at it.
“And that hasn’t stopped. I’m still going out there competing to get better at something every single time out.”
All evidence in Dunedin is that Scherzer has been a good fit with what suddenly is one of the more veteran starting staffs in baseball. Working alongside Chris Bassitt, Kevin Gausman and Jose Berrios, there’s a ton of experience from a crew that he becomes the elder statesman of.
“I’ve pitched on enough teams now that I know how to find my way into a clubhouse, find how to get in on the inside jokes, get in on the text threads and blend in, just be one of the dudes,” Scherzer said. “That’s usually how you make friends on baseball teams.”
Super agent Scott Boras, who represents Scherzer, gushes at his client’s dedication to his craft, a trait that has helped kept father time at bay.
“To have the desire, the want, the refreshing attitude every day, wanting to compete at the highest level, even though you’ve accomplished so much and even though there’s a great deal with to compete,” Boras said. “That’s the respect you have for players like Max because they love the game, they’re challenged by it and and they take on so much to continue in it.
“I think that’s something a lot of athletes won’t endure, can’t endure.”
SPRING FORWARD
For Scherzer, the process of getting ready for a season begins in January when he starts throwing in earnest.
That foundation assured that when he showed up to the Jays player development complex in early February that he’d be ready to get down to real work.
With that in mind, Scherzer turned heads in Dunedin for his first official bullpen session when he reportedly threw 50 pitches and drew a huge crowd of what seemed like every pitcher and coach on the premises.
“A successful spring training is the proper ramp up,” said Scherzer, who hopes to make six Grapefruit League game starts. “Being able to build yourself up to 100 pitches and doing it the right way. Going through the little aches and pains of spring training as you navigate the ramp up.
“It’s obviously one of the most dangerous times of the year. We see the most injuries across the game at this point in time. So you’ve really got to know your body, really know what you’re doing and do it right.
“But I’ve done this enough that I know kind of almost down to the day what it takes to be ready for opening day.”
Scherzer is both meticulous and intelligent in his approach to spring training. Where some pitchers around the game — young, old and in the middle — are more cautious, there is no senior’s schedule for Mad Max.
“Obviously it’s important when you get to the games, how your arm responds to that,” Scherzer said of his regimen. “I know exactly where you need to be on each individual day and then it’s (a case of) you just build yourself up in the right way.”
WHY THE JAYS?
The Jays’ pursuit of Scherzer began early in free agency and gained momentum especially after options for both team and player narrowed.
From his perspective, Scherzer didn’t decide to locate north of the border just for the cash. With more than $300 million in career earnings, it wasn’t a priority. But with a one-year deal likely the final contract of his career, he wanted to win.
So the veteran plowed into his research of his suitors and in Toronto that meant tapping into fellow starter Bassitt, who he was a teammate with when both were in the New York Mets rotation, and with Jays assistant hitting coach, Hunter Mense, who he knew from his days at the University of Missouri.
Scherzer was diligent. He asked about what the Jays did for families, about the Rogers Centre facilities, about clubhouse vibe and most importantly, whether those already there felt the front office was committed to winning.
“The chance to compete and win,” Scherzer said when asked him the appeal of the Jays. “I’m not just playing to play. I really feel like Toronto kind of offered that. I kind of know what I’m getting into. I asked a lot of questions and felt comfortable with what Toronto was offering, what they were doing and what their outlook was for 2025.
“And (I liked) that they’re in an all-in position.”
Of course, we presume that Scherzer is savvy enough to recognize that should the Jays hopes to re-emerge as a playoff contender go awry, there is a possibility he could be an attractive trade deadline piece to a championship-minded team.
START ‘EM UP
Part of the Scherzer killer mentality is to recognize and elevate the significance of his position. The starting rotation, Scherzer believes, sets the trajectory of an MLB team.
“When you look at any team, the backbone is always the starting rotation,” Scherzer said. “It doesn’t matter how much offence you have, if you don’t have a starting staff, you’re always going to be in trouble if you don’t have starters going out there eating innings. That’s how you win ball games.
“I feel like I can pitch at a high level.”
If there’s enough left in the arm, the renowned competitive mind should provide Scherzer with the means to excel in the hired gun rule he was broughtin to fulfill.
Interestingly (but not surprisingly), given the modern demands of the game and the preferences of the latest front office to employ him, Scherzer almost is dismissive of the analytics that drive so much of the game.
“I think you’ve got to really understand yourself and what you know,” Scherzer said. “There’s too much data. There’s some (that) we’re talking about with pitching now that I completely disagree with. For me, I understand what I do well, what I need to look at, what I actually need to be thinking about in terms of my pitches.
“I have that isolated and I really tune out a lot of the other stuff that’s going on within the game. For me, I know what the process is. I know what it takes to win. I know how to self critique myself. I know how to get better. “
After 17 seasons, 2,878 career games, those three Cy Youngs Awards and eight all-star appearances, he most certainly does.