Max Scherzer gives guidance to Blue Jays pitchers

Max Scherzer gives guidance to Blue Jays pitchers

DUNEDIN Bowden Francis Jersey, Fla. From a distance, you may have known Max Scherzer as Mad Max.He's a fierce competitor, vibrating with intensity on the mound. That's part of what's put Scherzer on the path to the Hall of Fame as one of this generation's greatest pitchers. He's also come to learn that he can't exactly greet people with that energy on Day 1.This comes up in conversations around the Blue Jays' bullpen mounds, as fellow starters and young prospects crowd behind the three-time Cy Young Award winner, hoping to take anything they can from standing on the same dirt as him. It's those conversations that Scherzer has come to value so deeply. Self-critique is crucial, but so is leaning on your teammates. May 2 is City Connect Bassitt-Ball Replica Jersey Giveaway: Get your tickets now!"This game can drive you crazy," Scherzer said. "There's times where you want to just take a baseball bat and beat things to death. I've been there. I've learned over the years and I've beaten enough stuff to death that's not always the best way to think about it. Sometimes, it's the other guys on the bench who are seeing stuff while watching you pitch Orelvis Martinez Jersey."It can be about patterns, Scherzer said, with other veteran starters watching his game from different angles and vice versa. It can help a pitcher to get out of his own head and keep him away from beating things with baseball bats when a fellow starter speaks up at the right time. You can pitch great, but have a few balls sneak through. You can pitch terribly, but get the lucky bounces. It's about learning what to believe in.It's about picking your spots, though.When someone like Scherzer is in camp, every 20-year-old kid from Double-A is going to want to pick his brain. He can't immediately launch into a master's thesis on how pitching works. Those conversations are a little more hushed right now, but young pitchers are still watching every move Scherzer makes. Every moment of his day has a sense of intent behind it.Come July, Scherzer will be going all the way down the rabbit hole with pitchers like Bowden Francis or Kevin Gausman, who he's getting to know now as teammates. This should help everyone involved and is part of the value the Blue Jays are chasing in Scherzer. For now, at least he has an old Mets teammate to break it all down with.I can have more honest conversations right now with Chris Bassitt because we have history," Scherzer said. "I know him, he knows me. Other conversations with other guys are a little bit more reserved right now."ALL ABOARDThe Blue Jays brought a stacked lineup of regulars down to Lakeland Monday, which isn't always the case. Right off the top, the lineup listed Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Anthony Santander, George Springer, Andrs Gimnez and Alejandro Kirk. Some of the veterans asked to be on the trip to face Tigers' ace Tarik Skubal, which Blue Jays starter Jos Berros loved."It's good. It's special. I feel proud of that," Berros said. "It's kind of like having the Opening Day starting lineup, which is fun. When we go out there and all compete together, it's always fun. That's one sign of what we're going to bring for this season in 2025."DECISION TIME FOR RODRGUEZ?Yariel Rodríguez starts again Friday, but beyond that? TBD.The Blue Jays will shorten Rodrguez up as a reliever if everything goes well elsewhere in the rotation, and that will need to happen eventually. Rodrguez will pitch differently as a reliever, trying to max out on his best pitches, so the Blue Jays will need to give that some time in the second half of camp if that's the direction this ends up going."It's not so much performance-driven, it's a lot of health-driven things Alek Manoah Jersey," manager John Schneider said. "We'll see where everyone is, including him. If that's one more start after his next start on Friday, so be it. We know he's going to be in some role helping us this year. We have plans, but it's kind of wait and see right now."Rodrguez thrived as a reliever in Japan from 2020-'22, and with Ryan Yarbrough expected to be this bullpen's long man, there's now a chance the Blue Jays target some higher leverage with Rodrguez to explore how high his ceiling is in that role Yimi Garcia Jersey.