The 2010s treated baseball fans to some of the best pitchers the game has seen. Guys like Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, and Chris Sale put up historic numbers and put up highlight reels we’ll watch for the rest of our lives. One of the pitchers who had a career like no other was Max Scherzer. Over his 19-year career, he has pitched 2,985 innings with a 3.27 ERA, 1.089 WHIP, and a 129 ERA+. He’s also won the Cy Young Award three times and is an eight-time All-Star.
On Wednesday, June 11th, Scherzer added another achievement to his Hall of Fame career. In the top of the first against the Philadelphia Phillies, he struck out Kyle Schwarber for his 3,500th career strikeout. A feat that only 10 other pitchers have reached in MLB history. If Scherzer was not already a first ballot Hall of Famer, he definitely is now. At this point in his career, Scherzer has nothing left to prove. It’s time for him to hang up his cleats and call it a career.
It’s Time For Max Scherzer to Retire
This milestone is the only positive Scherzer has had this season. In 22 innings this season, he has a 10.23 ERA with 14 strikeouts to 11 walks, a 1.727 WHIP, and an ERA+ of 44. He has also spent a decent amount of time on the injured list this season with right forearm tendinitis and left ankle inflammation. It is getting to the point where the Toronto Blue Jays need to decide whether they should keep him in the rotation or not. It could come to a point where it’s best to cut ties.
While this season is the worst of Scherzer’s career, it’s something we knew was coming. He has been declining since the 2022 Postseason. Ever since the Padres put seven runs on him in 4 2/3 innings in Game 1 of the Wild Card round, he has not been the same pitcher. Since the start of 2023, Scherzer has thrown 303 innings to a 4.66 ERA with 310 strikeouts to 89 walks, a 1.218 WHIP, and an ERA+ of 90. These numbers are a far cry from what he put up during his peak.
Not only have his counting stats dropped, but his underlying metrics have as well. Although he has seen an uptick this year, his velocity is down. His four-seamer used to sit at around 95 mph. But in 2024-25, it has dropped down to 93 mph. This has caused a serious drop in his strikeout rate. At one point in his career, Scherzer was striking out batters at nearly a 35% rate. Last season, it had dropped to 22.9%. A big reason for his success was his ability to strike batters out; now that is gone, and he can’t adjust.
While his career was good enough that these struggles will not affect his legacy, this is not the ending we expected. The hope was that Scherzer would be able to pitch decently until he retired. Sure, there was going to be a little regression, but this was supposed to be going from an ace to a mid-rotation guy. Not be someone who is unpitchable and unwatchable. It is just sad at this point and makes you miss when he was in his prime so much more.
This strikeout milestone leaves nothing left to prove for Scherzer. It’s time for him to retire and ride off into the sunset as one of the best pitchers of the 21st century.
