DUNEDIN, Fla. — Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Max Scherzer threw 47 pitches in a simulated game against minor-leaguers on Monday but said he won’t know about his next steps until he wakes up in the morning and gauges the status of his right thumb.
“That’s been the issue with this whole thumb injury,” Scherzer told reporters afterward at the club’s player development complex. “It’s nothing during the game or after the game. It’s the next day. I just don’t recover well.”
Scherzer, who didn’t make his start last Thursday due to the sore thumb, said the issue generally flares up when he throws around 50 pitches. He admitted he was frustrated by it but was encouraged that his recent MRI revealed inflammation in his joint and no structural damage.
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In his first time speaking with media since the injury, Scherzer described the pain he’s been feeling.
“My thumb hurts,” he said. “It just hurts to grip the ball. But the more critical thing here is what I’ve learned over the years is that your thumb is absolutely critical to your arm health.”
“That’s my main concern here is that the danger of pitching (with) this is that you can sustain a shoulder injury,” he added.
The 40-year-old right-hander noted that he’s dealt with variations of this injury over the past two seasons. Last year, it led to a nerve issue that ran from his thumb all the way to his triceps and limited him to just nine starts.
“It’s similar,” said Scherzer. “It hasn’t manifested into the nerve pain yet, but that’s why I’m working with the hand specialists and the doctors and the trainers (to see) how can we move forward and not have this blow up into something worse.”
Scherzer signed a one-year, $15.5-million deal with the Blue Jays in February. Preparing for his 18th big-league season, the right-hander had performed well during his three starts this spring. He’s allowed just two hits over seven innings, striking out 10 and walking none. Scherzer last pitched on March 8 against Detroit, when he spun 3.1 scoreless frames with six strikeouts.
He was hopeful coming into camp that he had adequately addressed the thumb problems and put it behind him.
“After last year, I did a bunch of grip strength work (and) forearm work to try to address this,” said Scherzer. “But to see this flare up at the exact kind of 50-pitch mark tells me it’s not a grip strength issue.”
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Scherzer would need to progress soon if he were to open the season in the Blue Jays’ rotation. While he does have three spring starts under his belt, the fact that he’s been unable to build himself up past 50 pitches presents a hurdle that he’ll need to pass.
Losing Scherzer to begin the season would be a blow to the Blue Jays, who are not exactly flush with starting depth options. Right-hander Yariel Rodriguez is being stretched out and could slide into the rotation while right-hander Jake Bloss, who’s likely headed to triple-A Buffalo, could be an option as well.
Scherzer was asked if he is still optimistic about his chances of being ready for the start of the season, which begins for the Blue Jays in 10 days.
“Just playing this day by day,” he responded. “Not trying to get to ahead.”
