Blue Jays' Max Scherzer Announces Injury Update on Tuesday

Max Scherzer Injury Update

During his last start on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers, Scherzer was forced to exit early due to upper back tightness, pitching just four innings and allowing nine hits, four runs and one strikeout.

On an appearance on the Foul Territory podcast, Scherzer provided an update on the injury and its severity.

When asked if his back tightened up on him, Scherzer replied, “Yeah, last start. It’s actually kind of minor. Before the game I woke up normal looking down at the scouting reports and I looked up and all of a sudden my upper back was tight… It was something I thought I could pitch through, but it was affecting my stuff and I had to come out of the game early because of that.”

The good news is Scherzer believes the issue is minor and won’t affect his performance moving forward, though it will be something to monitor before his next start. His availability down the stretch is crucial for a rotation that hasn’t been going deep into games and doesn’t want to exhaust the bullpen before October baseball.

In his first year with the Blue Jays, Scherzer’s fastball remains his best pitch. He’s allowed an average exit velocity of 87.8 miles per hour, which grades out elite in the 83rd percentile according to Statcast. However, while he’s limiting hard contact, Scherzer is no longer generating punchouts as his breaking pitches have declined in quality with age.

Still, it’s impressive how Scherzer continues to perform in his 18th big-league season, and his clubhouse presence will be important given his playoff experience.