Mad Max

When starting pitcher Max Scherzer made his Major League Baseball debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2008, the jury was out on what he would become. Like most young MLB pitchers, Scherzer was wild and inconsistent on the mound. By 2009, Scherzer became a regular in the Diamondbacks starting rotation as he went 9-11 with an earned run average of 4.12. However the Diamondbacks had soured on Scherzer which resulted in him being traded to the Detroit Tigers.

In Detroit, Scherzer would come into his own with the help of fellow starting pitcher and mentor Justin Verlander. By 2011, Scherzer became a 15-game winner, while in 2012 he helped the Tigers win the American League Pennant. And in 2013, Scherzer took home the American League’s Cy Young Award as he posted a 21-3 record to go along with a 2.90 earned run average and 240 strikeouts. In 2014, Scherzer would follow up his Cy Young campaign by winning 18 games. And after Scherzer developed a reputation of being one of the games best power pitchers, he was ready to test free agency.

The Washington Nationals were ready to drink the Kool-aid on Scherzer as they would give him $210 million over seven years to come to D.C. Scherzer has been as good as advertised with the Nationals as he’s never posted an earned run  average above 3.00, while he has helped the franchise win a pair of National League Eastern Division Titles as well as taking home some individual hardware.

Scherzer has taken home the National League’s Cy Young Award in each of the last two years, and by the way that 2018 has started for him, he could join Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson as the only pitchers to win the award in three consecutive years.

In 16 starts this season Scherzer is 10-3 with an earned run average of 2.09 as he is helping the Nats remain in contention for their third consecutive National League East Title. Scherzer hasn’t been able to reach a victory in each of last three starts as he has been plagued by a lack of run support. In Scherzer’s last three starts, Washington has only been able to conjure up a pair of runs, while he continues to be dialed in on the mound.

Scherzer’s 161 strikeouts this season lead the National League as he is well on his way to recording 200 or more punch outs for the seventh consecutive year. Scherzer is set to become a 15-game winner for the sixth time during his career, and on a grander scale, his overall resume is becoming Cooperstown worthy.

As of this post, Scherzer is sitting on 2,310 career strikeouts, and although that he’ll be 34-years of age next month, there is still a chance of him reaching the magical milestone of 3,000 career punch outs which has only been attained by 16 pitchers in Major League Baseball history. Scherzer only has 151 wins to his credit as he has had to deal with having bad bullpens in both Detroit and Washington, but that should not dampen the electricity which he brings to the mound every fifth day.

Scherzer has morphed into that rare air of being a dominant pitcher as he puts fear into opposing hitters. When Scherzer toes the rubber, he is not looking to beat you with a swooping curve ball in the sense that Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers or Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants do as it is his good olde-fashioned country hard ball. And like Verlander, Kershaw, and Bumgarner, Scherzer knows how to pitch deep into games as he is on pace to hurl at least 200 innings for the sixth consecutive year which makes him a rarity in today’s game.

This current era of Major League Baseball is dominated by sabermetrics and front office personnel who themselves have never played the game, while they focused solely on analytical stats. Scherzer is of a different era where pitchers throw as hard as they could, doled out strikeouts, and would fight their manager if he ever thought of removing them from the game early. Scherzer went from being in the shadow of starting pitcher Dan Haren in Arizona, to that of Verlander in Detroit, to now being not only the guy for the Nationals, but also being recognized as one of the best in the game, and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

Source: Baseball-reference.com