BUFFALO, N.Y. — Clad in Buffalo Bisons white, No. 59 on his back, pitching in an actual game, his troublesome thumb “in a better spot,” Max Scherzer appears to have some momentum in this buildup back to the Toronto Blue Jays.
“Yeah, you can say that,” he said Friday night after throwing 56 pitches over 4.1 innings in his first rehab start, “but I’m not celebrating anything until I’m actually back in big-league games and recovering in big-league games. This thumb issue is a serious issue. I don’t declare myself out of the woods on this because I’ve got to be able to do this at the big-league level and recover at the big-league level.”
Scherzer isn’t there yet, obviously, and as always, how he’s feeling Saturday will be pivotal.
Still, before a Sahlen Field crowd of 11,614 that took in a 6-5, walkoff win over the Columbus Clippers, he took a major step, with his biggest workload since throwing 62 pitches over four shutout innings versus Minnesota in the Blue Jays’ penultimate spring training game on March 22.
That outing led into his only start of the season, March 27 against the Baltimore Orioles, when right lat soreness, triggered by compensating for the thumb, forced him out after just three innings and 45 pitches.
This start, during which he sat at 91.9 m.p.h. with his fastball and topped out at 94 while mixing in his slider, changeup, curveball and sinker to get 11 whiffs, was preceded by a 50-pitch simulated game in Dunedin last week, clearing a threshold he described as “the magic number for me” since that’s where his thumb issues typically flare up.
Scherzer said he will “definitely need another (rehab start), for sure,” and what happens beyond that will depend on conversations with the organization. But, offering the same caveats he has since the spring, he wasn’t ready to read into the differences between how he’s feeling now and how he felt back then.
“I felt fine and all of a sudden I had a start where I could tell something was wrong, and the next start, it was a whole issue, so it can happen that fast,” Scherzer explained. “I’m feeling good right now, but that doesn’t mean anything until I’m actually at that normal, built-up level. I just don’t know how this is going to respond.”
The plan for him Friday was to throw roughly 60-65 pitches, and he was super-efficient early, working around a Brayan Rocchio double during a nine-pitch first, surrendering a solo shot to left-fielder C.J. Kayfus, Cleveland’s No. 4 prospect according to Baseball America, in a 13-pitch second, before going three-up, three-down during a nine-pitch third.
A 20-pitch fourth, which included a Kayfus sacrifice fly to deep centre, preceded a three-pitch strikeout of Kyle Datres to open the fifth that ended his outing.
While Scherzer said his command isn’t where he’d like and that he simply needs more reps to regain “a little time, a little feel, a little rhythm,” he showed enough to demonstrate how he can help a Blue Jays rotation that can use him.
He’s been following the club’s recent surge and “I’m chomping at the bit,” he said.
“I’m dying here. I want be out there helping the team as much as anybody,” he continued. “I hate sitting here on the IL. I want to be out there competing and help the ballclub win. I’ve got to do my work here. Got to do this process right. Got to build up. And if I do, I can be back out there.”
In Philadelphia, before an 8-0 loss to the Phillies, manager John Schneider said the plan for Scherzer is to rejoin the Blue Jays and throw a bullpen in before his next start on normal rest Wednesday.
“I could care less about his linescore, I want to see 60-65 pitches, I want to see that the fastball velo is good, and that he’s coming out of it healthy, really,” said Schneider. “And the main thing is to see he feels (Saturday) and hopefully just keep going in the right direction.”
Scherzer’s next outing would be at Worcester, making it possible that Friday’s outing was his only one at Sahlen Field. It was treated like an event by fans — who gave him a standing ovation as he walked off the field — and players alike, with several Clippers watching highlights from Scherzer’s 20-strikeout game against Detroit in 2016 on the video board after their batting practice had ended.
Bisons pitching coach Drew Hayes said the experience for his players was “similar to spring training, we’re always encouraging, especially our younger guys that are still learning their routines, to dial in and watch the older guys like that and see how they go about their business.”
“Until you’ve seen a guy like that actually work, work in the bullpen, the way they go about everything, you don’t really know,” he continued. “So I think it’s a really good opportunity for some of these younger guys to kind of dial in their routines and how they go about stuff from watching one of the best that’s done it.”
Scherzer is intent on continuing to do it for the Blue Jays as soon as possible. Friday night was a big step in that direction.
“It’s nice to face somebody else and be in a real game,” said Scherzer. “You definitely take it to another level, that’s a different level of competition. On the mend here and trying to get back as fast as possible.”
