Scherzer vs. Cuban Batters: Few hit and many struck out

By Jesus Perez Vichot (Chuchi)

There are several starting pitchers in the Major Leagues who dispute the qualification of “the best” today. Names such as Jacob deGrom, Gerrit Cole, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Shane Bieber, among others, come to mind. Yeah, I know, you’re probably wondering right now how I didn’t mention Max Scherzer. But it turns out that it is precisely the star right-handed pitcher that I want to comment on.

It is no less true that Kershaw’s career has been impressive, that deGrom has had years of luxury and that Verlander and Cole also bring them. But me particularly if I have to choose a launcher to open a special game, I would not hesitate to choose «Mad Max».

The 37-year-old right-hander has already spent 14 seasons at the highest level and with the way he finished last season, he seems to be in the best moment of his career. Scherzer is the 10th pitcher in history to have won at least three Cy Young Awards (five more times he finished in the top 5), one in the American League (2013) and two in the National League (2016 and 2017). He was selected to eight All-Star Games, in 2019 and 2021 he made the All-MLB first team and in 2019 he won the World Series title with the Washington Nationals. So far Scherzer has accumulated 190 wins and 97 losses, an ERA of 3.16, WAR of 67.1, in a total of 2,536.2 innings pitched, he has 7.4 hits and strikes out 10.7 rivals per nine innings (second best strikeout rate in history for a pitcher with at least 2000 innings worked).

His opponents are only hitting .221 against him and his WHIP is 1.084. In addition, Max has twice led the win chart in each league and led the NL three times in complete games, twice in shutouts, three times in strikeouts, once in earned run average and FIP, the WHIP four times (five in total, since he did it once in the American League).

It may interest you: WE WERE FEW: The domino was “stuck” with Cuban players in Italy

Scherzer was named the National League’s Outstanding Pitcher last season. This award is given by vote of Major League Baseball players. It was the third time in his career that he has won such an award. He had won when he was with the Tigers in 2013 and then with the Nationals in 2017. Scherzer reached 3,000 strikeouts in 2021, being the second player who needed the fewest seasons and innings pitched to reach this mark, only surpassed by Randy Johnson.

His consistency has been fabulous, in eight straight seasons (2012-19) he has 230 or more strikeouts. He threw two no-hitters in 2015, struck out 20 batters for the Detroit Tigers on May 11, 2016 and in 104 games he has prescribed more than 10 strikeouts (the most in the MLB since 2008).

Max is one of those rare pitchers who continued to improve his performance at 30 years of age. His talent and durability are impressive, for the last seven years he has been the best pitcher in the Majors. If Max retired today, his achievements and his fantastic seasons would be enough to be in the Hall of Fame. But still the numbers that he has achieved must continue to increase considerably, because last season he was seen as the good wine.

Linking Scherzer with the Cuban players, we can say that as expected, the current pitcher for the Dodgers (previously with Arizona, Detroit and Washington) in general dominated most of those he faced. Perhaps many remember the home run that Yuli Gurriel hit Max in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, but in the regular season the Astros’ first baseman has not faced the star pitcher. Cuban batters average Scherzer for an anemic .184 (lower than the aforementioned .221 that Max averages in his career for all the batters he has faced), with only four home runs in 234 times at bat.

It may interest you: EVEN WHEN! January left and the Cuban ball CONTINUED without a decision

Let’s review what the Cubans who have seen Max Scherzer’s deliveries from the plate have hit individually in the regular season:

  • Alexei Ramírez: 62-8 (.129), 3 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 2 CI, 5 BB and 8 K.
  • Yunel Escobar: 33-11 (.333), 3 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 3 CI, 3 BB and 9 K.
  • Yoenis Céspedes: 17-3 (.176), 1 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 1 CI, 2 BB and 8 K.
  • Kendrys Morales: 15-4 (.267), 2 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 0 CI, 2 BB and 6 K.
  • Yasmani Grandal: 13-1 (.077), 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0 CI, 1 BB and 7 K.
  • Adeiny Hechavarría: 22-2 (.091), 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 1 IC, 1 BB and 8 K.
  • Yunieski Betancourt: 12-4 (.333), 1 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 1 CI, 1 BB and 2 K.
  • Aledmys Díaz: 10-1 (.100), 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0 CI, 0 BB and 2 K.
  • Brayan Peña: 9-2 (.222), 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 1 CI, 0 BB and 0 K.
  • Yasmani Tomás: 9-2 (.222), 0 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 1 IC, 0 BB and 4 K.
  • José Iglesias: 8-2 (.250), 0 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 1 CI, 0 BB and 3 K.
  • Héctor Olivera: 6-0 (.000), 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0 CI, 0 BB and 2 K.
  • Lourdes Gurriel Jr.: 5-0 (.000), 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0 CI, 0 BB and 2 K.
  • Yordan Álvarez: 3-1 (.333), 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0 IC, 0 BB and 0 K.
  • Jorge Soler: 3-0 (.000), 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0 CI, 0 BB and 2 K.
  • Yolmer Sánchez: 3-1 (.333), 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0 CI, 0 BB and 2 K.
  • Leonys Martin 2-0 (.000), 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 0 CI, 1 BB and 1 K.
  • Odrisamer Despaigne: 2-1 (.500), 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 1 IC, 0 BB and 0 K.

It may interest you: Another pitcher from the latest Industriales team DEBUT in the USA

We want to thank the author of this write-up for this incredible content

Scherzer vs. Cuban Batters: Few hit and many struck out