ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Max Scherzer feels confident that he has figured out what was causing a nerve issue that has kept him from pitching for a month, and the three-time Cy Young Award winner is now ready to rehab to get back on the mound for the Texas Rangers.
Scherzer said Saturday that a change in mechanics alleviated the irritation of the triceps nerve that was only happening when he was pitching. He came out of a full bullpen session Friday without any pain.
“I feel like I can overcome this, because there’s nothing wrong. … I don’t have an injury here. This was just nerve irritation,” Scherzer said. “I feel like I potentially have solved this, and now I can actually build back up.”
Even with reigning World Series champion Texas already shifting its focus to 2025 — the Rangers went into Saturday night’s game 10 games back in the AL West — the 40-year-old Scherzer said he definitely wants to pitch again this season, and still plans to pitch more after that.
“I’ve got to go out there and prove it,” he said. “And if I do, then, yeah, I definitely want to pitch next year. I said that coming in. I came into this year thinking I was going to pitch next year, so nothing’s changed. Obviously if I fail at this, you know, I’ve got to rethink, but I don’t think I’ll have to rethink. I think I’ve got to go out there and execute this.”
Scherzer is in the final season of his contract. The Rangers acquired him from the New York Mets in a deadline trade last summer after the pitcher agreed to opt in on that final year for this season at $43.3 million — with New York paying $30.83 million.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Scherzer could be ready as soon as Monday to throw to hitters or in a rehab game.
“He’s got a different look about him because he thinks he’s got this cleared up with the arm thing with the mechanical adjustment he made, so that’s what you like to see,” Bochy said.
Scherzer (2-4, 3.89 ERA), still MLB’s active strikeout leader, last pitched July 30, when he exited after 68 pitches and four innings at St. Louis. That was only his eighth start since his season debut June 23 following offseason back surgery and then dealing with a nerve issue in his arm.
He went on the injured list after his last start with shoulder fatigue. An MRI revealed some inflammation, and Scherzer kept having setbacks when he tried to ramp back up to get back on the mound.
“I passed every strength test, yet I still couldn’t throw a ball,” he said. “It was the nerve issue again in the triceps, so that kind of set off another chain of events, go see more doctors, had nerve tests.”
Scherzer said there was no nerve damage, and it was determined that something must be pinching the nerve when he was trying to pitch. That led to the mechanical adjustment he described as minor and similar to others he has made throughout his 17 big league seasons.
“It’s usually because of a performance thing,” he said. “I’ve never had my mechanics really cause an arm injury or cause a nerve irritation, and so that’s what was so perplexing to me.”
In his last home start July 25, two days before this 40th birthday, Scherzer struck out nine in six innings against the Chicago White Sox to pass fellow three-time Cy Young winner Justin Verlander for 10th on the strikeout list. His 3,405 career strikeouts are three more than Verlander, who is the active leader for wins (260) and games started (561) and the only one ahead of Scherzer’s 216 wins and 456 starts.
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Stephen Hawkins, The Associated Press