The amazing artistry – and results – of Max Scherzer at age 37

We’ve watched Max Scherzer for years. Even if we only count his time in the NL, he had two CY Awards to his name and multiple other top five finishes. We probably did some kind of internal dance when Jacob deGrom won back-to-back CY to leapfrog Scherzer as the best pitcher in the game. Still, Scherzer is 14-5 lifetime against the Mets, with a 2.68 ERA in 161 IP. We’ve seen his dominance up close and personal, including a no-hitter with 17 Ks, 0 H and 0 BB.

Yet why does it feel like his performance so far has been a revelation?

No doubt we’re still reeling in some respects from last year’s collapse when deGrom missed the second half of the season. When news broke that he would miss the start of 2022, too, it’s likely we prepared ourselves for more underwhelming baseball, regardless of whatever newcomers were on the team this year who did not participate in last year’s meltdown, including Scherzer.

Also, there’s Scherzer’s own injury that put his first start in jeopardy. Scherzer injured his hamstring late in Spring Training. He recovered enough to pitch the second game of the year but his numbers were nothing special if viewed as a normal start. However, the idea that he could pitch around a leg that wasn’t 100% should have made a 6 IP, 3 ER start stand tall. But it seems like we didn’t give that outing enough credit.

But Scherzer’s last two starts have been incredible. Going up against the Giants and Cardinals – two playoff teams last year and squads that are 21-8 when playing someone besides the Mets this season – all Scherzer’s done is put up 14 IP where he’s allowed just 3 H and 1 R with 4 BB and 20 Ks. And he’s doing this in his age-37 season.

Scherzer has so many weapons with which to attack hitters. He utilizes all quadrants of the strike zone and he’s a master at getting to two strikes and then getting outs on pitches out of the strike zone because they look like strikes when they leave his hand. It’s interesting to contrast Scherzer with deGrom. We’ve seen deGrom have success by blowing away hitters with his fastball and slider, mostly utilizing the outer half of the plate. With deGrom, you know what’s coming and where – you just can’t do anything about it. With Scherzer, you have no idea what’s coming or where it will be. And because of that, you have to be ready for everything, which leaves you more likely to chase a pitch.

According to TexasLeaguers.com, Scherzer’s 10 strikeouts against the Giants came on the following types of pitches:

Four-seam – 2
Cutter – 3
Slider – 2
Change – 2
Curve – 1

It was more of the same versus the Cardinals:

Cutter – 3
Four-seam – 4
Slider – 2
Change – 1

In the Cardinals game, Scherzer struck out Edmundo Sosa three times, with Sosa going down swinging each time. Here are the pitch sequences in each PA:

Slider-Fastball-Slider
Fastball-Slider-Change
Fastball-Slider-Fastball-Fastball

Four times, Sosa chased sliders outside of the strike zone, including the one that struck him out in his first PA. Sosa, being weary of that slider, allowed Scherzer to whiff him with a swinging strike on an 82.9 mph change in the second at-bat and a swinging strike on a 93.7 mph fastball in the third at-bat.

There are 54 starting pitchers with enough innings to qualify for the FanGraphs’ Leaderboards. Five of those have an average fastball velocity of 97, with Gerrit Cole leading the way with a 97.7 average. Scherzer ranks 21st with a 94.2 average fastball variety. Other pitchers will impress you with their raw velocity. Instead, Scherzer has one that’s slightly above average. Yet, he ranks fifth among qualified starters with an 11.88 K/9.

There’s something mind-boggling about the pitchers who succeed despite everyone in the park knowing what’s coming. The obvious example is deGrom and his FB and SL on the outer half of the plate. You can also include Mariano Rivera and the cutter and Frank Viola and the change.

But perhaps it’s even more impressive when a pitcher dominates the other team by setting them up and knocking them down with a variety of weapons, even at an advanced baseball age. Since turning 37 on July 27 of last year, Scherzer has made 16 starts and put up the following numbers:

99.1 IP, 1.90 ERA, 127 Ks, 19 BB and a 0.624 WHIP

In his final 12 starts of 2021, Scherzer limited opponents to a .527 OPS. In four starts this year, opponents have a .391 OPS. And as noted earlier, two of his four opponents this year are among the best teams in the league.

We saw prime Scherzer with that 17-K, no-hitter versus the Mets seven years ago, one where he struck out seven of the last eight batters he faced. The version we’re seeing in 2022 might end up even more impressive. He’s lost a tick or two off his fastball but he still embarrasses hitters on a regular basis with both the diversity and quality of his pitches. If you had to pick a pitcher today to take the mound in a must-win situation, Scherzer’s still in the conversation and quite possibly the guy you take, too.

My opinion is that Mets fans haven’t appreciated deGrom enough the past few seasons. Perhaps the fans prefer an artist on the mound, rather than the sheer overpowering of the hitter. If that’s the case, they should welcome Scherzer with open arms. You just can’t get more artistry than the ability to throw five different pitches to any part of the plate and beyond.

Simply put, Scherzer is must-see TV. Which reminds me – I need to cancel the Apple TV subscription that was started so I could watch his first start as a Met. But if he’s exclusively on a different streaming service for any start this year, you can bet I’ll sign up for that one, too.