Max Scherzer said Friday that he is ready to pitch in the majors again after a rehab outing that left him feeling encouraged and, by his account, close to game speed. After a pre-game bullpen session at Fenway Park in Boston, the 41-year-old said he was in a good spot throwing the ball and that the ball was coming out of his hand the way it needed to.
The timing matters because Scherzer has not pitched in the majors since June 10, and the Blue Jays have not yet locked in whether his next appearance will come against the Washington Nationals. He had just finished a triple-A rehab start for the Buffalo Bisons, striking out seven over five scoreless innings, then said, “So I’m looking to pitch here, in the big leagues.”
That is the kind of line the Blue Jays wanted to hear after months of waiting on a starter who has spent most of the season trying to get healthy. Scherzer has thrown just 22 big-league innings this year, a thin workload for a pitcher the team expected to lean on, and he said his thumb responded well to cortisone injections and now feels much improved physically.
The numbers from the rehab outing point to why the club is encouraged but still cautious. Scherzer threw 56 pitches for the Buffalo Bisons on Wednesday, and the next step would be a normal progression toward about 70 pitches. For a starting pitcher coming back from injury, that is not a finish line by itself; it is a sign that he is building toward a workload that can cover a major league outing without forcing the issue too soon.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider left the door open when asked about using Scherzer against the Washington Nationals, saying, “We could,” while adding that the club is not trying to force him back before he is ready. That is the balance the team is trying to strike now: Scherzer says he can pitch, the club likes where he is headed, and the final call still has to account for whether one more step is better than asking for too much too soon.
Scherzer has not hidden the frustration of the lost time. “It’s frustrating for sure,” he said, but he added that dwelling on it is pointless and that his focus is simply to get back out there and compete. He also has a no-trade clause, which gives him control over any move that could reshape the discussion around him, but the immediate question is simpler than that: whether the Blue Jays are ready to put him back on a mound in the majors now, or wait for one more turn in the progression.
