None of MLB’s new rule changes implemented for the 2023 season have had a larger impact than the pitch clock, with nine-inning games routinely lasting closer to two-and-a-half hours than the three-hour-plus mark of previous seasons.
But not everyone is completely sold on the clock, including Mets ace Max Scherzer, who has said multiple times this season that he believes it should be used at the umpire’s discretion rather than starting it for every single pitch.
Speaking to The Athletic, Scherzer recently questioned the relationship between the quicker pace of play and its potential impact on pitchers getting injured.
“There is a time component now,” Scherzer told The Athletic. “In a runner’s analogy, it would be trying to run foul poles (with longer rest intervals), cut the rest to 15 and see how that feels. There’s a level of concern with pitchers’ health, that the pace may be too much for pitchers.”
The Athletic notes that it’s difficult to make a clear connection between the pace of play and pitcher injuries. This April tied for the highest number of pitchers on the IL since at least the start of the 2000 season. It's also true that pitchers are once again throwing harder than in previous seasons, with four-seam fastballs around the league averaging nearly 94 mph in the month of April, which very well could be a factor in more pitchers landing on the IL.
According to The Athletic, Scherzer stressed the word “if” when talking about velocity and injuries potentially becoming an issue around the league, but the Mets ace believes that pitchers may need “to learn to throttle their stuff,” as The Athletic writes, in order to last longer in games they start.
While he sounds skeptical about the impact the pitch clock is having on the game, the 38-year-old Scherzer is still doing everything he can to be as sharp, and as fresh, as possible every time he takes the mound.
“Get in shape,” Scherzer said. “Be ready for this. It’s going to knock people out. Personally, I have to look at this as, ‘What’s the worst-case scenario? Yeah, pitchers start dropping. The injury bug is going to be coming across the league.’ Get in shape. Don’t let it be you.”