Blue Jays’ Max Scherzer Sends Message After Rehab Start

Getting Scherzer back remains one of the organization’s top priorities and his first rehab outing provided a sigh of relief. According to Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling, Scherzer threw three scoreless innings for the Buffalo Bisons on Sunday, allowing no runs while striking out four and walking two. He threw 41 pitches, including 24 strikes, and averaged 93.3 mph with his fastball and four of his seven swinging strikes came on his slider.

Following the outing, Scherzer said the biggest takeaway was how his arm felt.

“I’m happy because my forearm’s in a great spot. And that really allows me to throw the ball the way I want to.”

Scherzer noted that some of the inconsistencies in his slider were largely a product of rust and something he expects to clean up in his next appearance.

More than the results, the velocity and health of his forearm were the key indicators Toronto wanted to see and both metrics have been encouraging so far.

His next rehab start is tentatively scheduled for Friday with Buffalo. If that outing goes smoothly, Scherzer could be in line to rejoin Toronto’s rotation sometime by mid-June.

Before the injury, Scherzer struggled to a 1-3 record with a 9.64 ERA across five starts, striking out 10 batters in 18⅔ innings. The three-time Cy Young Award winner has not found a consistent rhythm to start the season and Toronto will now focus on building him back toward a major-league workload.

The Blue Jays are off Monday after dropping two consecutive games to the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend. They resume play Tuesday against the Atlanta Braves, who own the best record in baseball.