Mets star pitcher Max Scherzer is ready to bounce back with his team in the upcoming season following a disappointing exit last season.
On Sunday, as Max Scherzer was leaving the field following the Mets’ 6-3 victory over the Nationals, he paused to have a lengthy talk with the home-plate umpire, David Rackley. In the previous two innings, Scherzer had tried a variety of different speeds while he was on the mound in the hopes of gaining an advantage from the new pitch timer that is being used in Major League Baseball. The right-handed pitcher was only able to allow one run on three hits while striking out five batters.
Scherzer’s primary question to Rackley was whether or not he was permitted to start his windup as soon as the clock reached eight seconds. Rackley responded affirmatively. At that point, batters are supposed to be in the box and looking up, so Scherzer tried to come set before the eight-second mark on Sunday, with the intention of throwing the pitch as soon as the clock hit eight.
Talking about his preparations for the upcoming season, Scherzer said, “I can work extremely quick or I can work extremely slow, There’s another layer here to try to mess with the hitter’s timing. There’s a cat-mouse game,There’s rules, and I’ll operate within whatever the rules are.”
On other times, Scherzer purposefully held the ball for a longer period of time so that batters wouldn’t be able to anticipate that he would throw each pitch at the same rhythm.
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