Blue Jays Max Scherzer Decision Fuels Confidence After Five-Shutout-Inning Spring Start
blue jays max scherzer decision dominated clubhouse talk after the 41-year-old right-hander threw five shutout innings in a Grapefruit League win on Friday (ET) in Fort Myers, making a long tune-up as he pushes toward the regular season. He allowed two hits, two walks and struck out three while working up to 72 pitches and sitting 93. 4 m. p. h. with a heater that topped 95. 8 m. p. h. The performance left the club and Scherzer saying he had done what he needed to get ready for the season and set the stage for his scheduled first regular-season start March 31 (ET).
Blue Jays Max Scherzer Decision: The outing
In the most critical facts first: Scherzer started in Fort Myers in a Grapefruit League matchup with the Minnesota Twins and carried his workload through five scoreless frames in a 2-1 preseason victory. He allowed two hits and two walks, recorded three strikeouts and kept his fastball velocity through the outing while executing his slider and changeup. The club pushed him to 72 pitches in what the pitcher called an important competitive tune-up, after electing to make the 2½-hour trek from Dunedin to face big-league hitters rather than a minor-league lineup.
Concrete metrics from the outing underline the step forward: fastball velocity sat at 93. 4 m. p. h. and the heater topped out at 95. 8 m. p. h., and Scherzer harvested six groundball outs along with three flyouts while suppressing hard contact. The result was a narrow 2-1 win for the Blue Jays, with run support from teammates and a bullpen closing sequence that sealed the preseason victory.
Immediate reactions
Max Scherzer, right-hander, Blue Jays, summed up the night plainly: “I did everything I need to do to get ready for the season. ” He described the difference in facing major-league hitters in a spring game: “There’s just an extra-level gear when you’re in a big-league spring training game versus minor leagues. ” Scherzer also stressed execution over raw velocity: “It’s execution. Everybody looks at velo but it’s more than that. It’s hitting your spot, hit the glove. “
John Schneider, manager, Blue Jays, framed the outing in terms of health progress: “He hasn’t talked about it in a long time, ” referencing the right thumb that troubled Scherzer last year and which is not an issue this spring. The manager outlined the club’s plan to continue building Scherzer’s workload: the pitcher will look to throw roughly six innings and 90 pitches in a minor-league game next before his first regular-season outing.
Quick context and background
This start came roughly 363 days after Scherzer made a final spring outing at the same complex a year earlier, when thumb trouble flagged his status and led to an interrupted start to last season. The veteran signed a one-year, $3-million deal late in February with up to $10 million in performance bonuses and has since reported no thumb or shoulder concerns.
What’s next
With this showing in a competitive Grapefruit League setting, the club will track his follow-up minor-league outing and the planned ramp to his first regular-season start on March 31 (ET). The immediate focus is on volume and execution — getting to roughly six innings and about 90 pitches in that next outing — and on monitoring how the arm responds to a higher workload. The blue jays max scherzer decision now centers on maintaining these gains through one more controlled tune-up and into the season-opening rotation, where the team expects him to be available for that March 31 (ET) assignment.
