Blue Jays’ Max Scherzer stays tempered after impressive outing

DUNEDIN, Fla. – Max Scherzer certainly looked sharp on the way to a six-strikeout start against the Detroit Tigers Saturday afternoon. But as he prepares for the 18th season of his big-league career, he’s not about to get ahead of himself.

The strikeouts and a fastball that topped out at 94.5 m.p.h. are positives, but they’re just part of the equation for Scherzer. Also important to the 40-year-old: throwing all of his pitches for strikes, building his pitch count up to 49 and continuing to work with Alejandro Kirk, his new catcher.

“Normal spring stuff,” Scherzer said afterward.

Manager John Schneider was a little more effusive.

“Today was really good, so another box checked … He’s been doing this for a long time. There’s not really much you can say. The guy’s a Hall of Famer.”

And from his vantage point in the third base dugout, Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch was impressed, too.

“Their guy looks like he’s having a nice entry into the spring,” said Hinch, who managed Scherzer in Arizona back in 2009. “I think he’s kind of ready for everybody to challenge (pitches) based on the stance that he took in the beginning of spring, so he’s having fun with it. He was making his pitches, so there were a lot of pitches right on the edge, which is why he’s still really good.”

If anyone knows what it takes to build a rapport with a catcher, it’s Scherzer, who has worked with 31 different catchers over the years. From Tres Barrera (once) to Alex Avila (113 times). He has now worked with Kirk three times, and the familiarity’s building gradually, but it’s not fully there yet. That’s not a concern, it’s simply the reality so early in spring.

“Yeah, it’ll get … “ Scherzer paused for a moment and chuckled. “Not until June. You don’t know where anything is at. This is spring. You’re not locked in per se. You’re at game speed, but you don’t have the full preparation, so you’re not 100 per cent locked in here. It’s good that he can see the sequences and see what I’m trying to do, but the fun starts once the season starts.”

Knowing the kind of intensity Scherzer brings to the mound in big games, the Blue Jays are eager to see him pitch when it counts.

“We all know the competitor that he is when he’s out there,” Schneider said. “We’re looking forward to seeing that switch turn on as we get into the regular season. But he’s just really, really intentional with everything that he does.”

Adding Scherzer to a group that already included Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis gives the Blue Jays the basis of a strong rotation, health permitting. So far so good on that front for Scherzer, who has successfully rehabbed the nerve issue that ran from his thumb all the way to his triceps last year, limiting him to just nine starts.

But when asked how he’s been able to stay on the field enough to win 216 games and pitch nearly 3,000 innings, he declined to get into specifics.

“I’m not going to tell you,” Scherzer said. “I know what I need to do to be able to deliver the ball safely (and be) healthy, be durable, everything that goes into it. I’ll share that with my teammates and not with the public.”

Meanwhile, in nearby Clearwater Fla., the Phillies hit Francis hard in the Blue Jays’ other split-squad game Saturday. Francis allowed five earned runs in 2.2 innings while walking three and striking out four.

The results aren’t always pretty, but they don’t have to be this time of year. Most important of all is continued health, and as long as that lasts, the team will have a chance to start the season strong.

“We have a good vibe,” Scherzer said. “We’ve had a good camp so far. Guys are clicking. Guys are joking. But at the end of the day, everybody feels that across the league. You really can’t judge a team until you get to the middle of May, so we’ll see how the season unfolds for us.”

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