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Maxwell Martin Scherzer (born July 27, 1984) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Mets.

Early life
Scherzer was born on July 27, 1984, in St. Louis Missouri, the oldest child of Brad and Jan Scherzer. He had a close relationship with his only brother, Alex, who was three years younger, and both took to baseball from a young age. The Scherzers lived in Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb about 20 mi west of St. Louis, and were avid fans of the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Singularly focused on athletics from childhood, Scherzer had gained some local notoriety in Parkway Central Middle School both as a baseball pitcher and as a quarterback for the school's American football team.

College career
Scherzer's hometown Major League Baseball (MLB) team, the St. Louis Cardinals, selected him out of high school in the 43rd round of the 2003 MLB Draft, but Scherzer declined their draft offer, preferring to uphold his commitment to play college baseball for the Missouri Tigers. Scherzer struggled during his freshman season with Missouri, putting up a 5.85 ERA and walking 16 batters in only 20 innings of playing time, and he frequently clashed with coach Tim Jamieson over his lack of use. Many of his difficulties came from "the head whip", a unique pitch delivery in which his head would whip so far forward while throwing that he would lose his hat. Scherzer's awkward delivery led him to miss his target, most often against right-handed batters, and for the last 50 games of the 2004 Southeastern Conference season, assistant coach Tony Vitello reworked Scherzer's delivery to give him more control. After the college baseball season ended, Scherzer played collegiate summer baseball in the Northwoods League, serving as the primary closer for the La Crosse Loggers. He went 2–1 with a 1.91 ERA in 17 Northwoods League appearances, striking out 50 batters in 33 innings and converting six saves.


 * 2005
 * 2006

Draft and minor leagues
The Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball selected Scherzer in the first round, 11th overall, of the 2006 MLB Draft. He was the ninth pitcher taken in that year's draft, and Diamondbacks scouting director Mike Rizzo was criticized for taking a player that other scouts believed would break down at a young age. The Diamondbacks' initial contract, however, offered only half the money that Scherzer expected he would receive for such a high draft pick. Scherzer, represented by prominent sports agent Scott Boras, purposely stalled contract negotiations with the Diamondbacks until the signing deadline in order to raise his signing bonus.

To remain in pitching form while negotiations dragged on into the summer, Scherzer signed a $1,000 contract with the Fort Worth Cats of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, an independent baseball league unaffiliated with MLB. More than 30 MLB scouts came to watch Scherzer's first start in Fort Worth, where he threw 68 pitches across five innings and achieved fastball speeds up to 98 mph. In his three independent league starts, Scherzer allowed only one earned run on nine hits in 16 innings, striking out 25 and walking four. On May 31, 2007, only minutes before the Diamondbacks would have lost their rights to Scherzer and he would have become eligible once more in the 2007 MLB Draft, the parties agreed to a four-year, $4.3 million contract with bonuses up to $6 million.

After signing with the Diamondbacks, Scherzer was assigned to the Low-A Visalia Oaks of the California League. In his second professional baseball start, he was perfect through seven innings, striking out 13 batters while allowing no base runners, but was pulled after reaching his predetermined pitch count. Visalia went on to defeat the San Jose Giants 10-4. He made only three starts for Visalia, during which he allowed one earned run on five hits while walking two and striking out 30 batters. After those three starts and 17 innings, Scherzer was promoted to the Double-A Mobile BayBears of the Southern League on June 24. Following his promotion, Scherzer started 14 games in Mobile and pitched $73 2/3$ innings, going 4–4 with a 3.91 ERA and 76 strikeouts in the process. After the regular Minor League Baseball season ended, Scherzer was invited to the Arizona Fall League, where he posted a 2.13 ERA in eight games with the Scottsdale Scorpions.

Arizona Diamondbacks (2008–2009)
After striking out eight, walking two, and allowing three home runs in six spring training innings, Scherzer began the 2008 season as the fifth starter for the Triple-A Tucson Sidewinders of the Pacific Coast League. His time in Triple-A was brief: on April 29, 2008, the Diamondbacks, who had exhausted all their relievers during a 13-inning marathon loss to the San Diego Padres the day before, called Scherzer up to Arizona for a relief appearance against the Houston Astros. His MLB debut was intended to be an emergency appearance before returning to Tucson, but after Scherzer became the first pitcher in MLB history to retire the first 13 batters he faced without interruption, manager Bob Melvin and general manager Josh Byrnes decided to keep Scherzer in the major leagues, and they moved Édgar González to the bullpen so that Scherzer could take his place in the rotation. Scherzer was shakier in his first major league start, allowing five runs, two of which were earned, on seven hits in four innings against the Philadelphia Phillies. When Doug Davis returned from the disabled list on May 23, Scherzer was moved back to the bullpen so that Davis could return to the rotation, and Brandon Medders was designated for assignment to allow the club to keep Scherzer.

Despite going 0–2 with a 2.90 ERA and 33 strikeouts through 10 games (three starts) and 31 innings in Arizona, Scherzer was sent back down to Tucson on June 14 to make room for Billy Buckner, who had recently been acquired from the Kansas City Royals. In his first start back in Triple-A, Scherzer felt more bicep soreness than he was used to after pitching, and while medical scans revealed no structural damage, he was placed on the Sidewinders' disabled list with shoulder fatigue on June 19. He returned on July 21 but lasted only $1/3$ of an inning after allowing two runs on two hits and two walks to the Tacoma Rainiers. He improved over the course of his rehabilitation assignment, bulding up to 85 pitches and lowering his Triple-A ERA to 2.45 over the course of August, and Scherzer was called back up to the Diamondbacks' bullpen at the end of August. Although primarily a reliever during the final month of the season, Scherzer did make a handful of starting appearances, mostly in place of an injured Randy Johnson. In his abbreviated rookie year, Scherzer went 0–4 with a 3.05 ERA in 16 major league games (seven starts), and struck out 66 batters in 56 innings. He also played 13 games in Tucson, where he went 1–1 with a 2.72 ERA and struck out 79 in 53 innings. After the regular season concluded, Scherzer rejoined the Arizona Fall League, where he recorded a 3.38 ERA in four starts for the Phoenix Desert Dogs.

Scherzer suffered from shoulder inflammation throughout spring training, and the Diamondbacks worried that he would not be reactivated from the disabled list in time for his first scheduled start on April 14.


 * 2009

2010
On December 10, 2009, Scherzer was involved in a three-team, seven player trade underwent by the Diamondbacks, New York Yankees, and Detroit Tigers. Originally, Ian Kennedy, Phil Coke, and then-prospect Austin Jackson were sent from New York to Detroit in exchange for All-Star center fielder Curtis Granderson. Kennedy was then flipped to Arizona alongside Tigers pitcher Edwin Jackson so that the Tigers could acquire Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth. Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski referred to Scherzer as "a bulldog who likes the ball and has All-Star type potential", and intended to place him between Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello in Detroit's 2010 starting rotation.

After allowing only one hit in six innings during his first start with Detroit, Scherzer had difficulty limiting scoring in his future outings, with the Minnesota Twins earning 16 runs off of him in back-to-back starts. After surrendering six runs to the Boston Red Sox in only five innings on May 14, Scherzer was sent down to the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens to regain his form. Although he was 1–4 with a 7.29 ERA upon being sent to Toledo, Scherzer rapidly recovered his form, striking out 10 batters and allowing only one hit over eight innings in his first Triple-A outing. He was able to isolate the mechanical issue that had been limiting his effectiveness on the mound and returned to Detroit by the end of the month. In his first outing since the temporary demotion, Scherzer set an MLB record by striking out 14 Oakland Athletics in under six innings of work. On July 26, Scherzer and Matt Garza of the Tampa Bay Rays engaged in a pitchers' duel, with both starters taking a no-hitter through $5 1/3$ innings before Matt Joyce hit a grand slam off of Scherzer in the sixth inning. Garza went on to complete his own no-hitter, which was the fifth of any pitcher in the 2010 MLB season.

2011
While Justin Verlander started his fourth consecutive Opening Day, manager Jim Leyland preferred to give the Comerica Park home opener to a pitcher who he believed made an impact the season prior, and Scherzer was his 2011 selection.

2013: First NL Cy Young Award
On February 4, 2013, Scherzer signed a one-year, $6.725 million contract extension to remain with the Tigers for the 2013 MLB season. The Tigers' starting rotation that season, which included Verlander, Scherzer, Aníbal Sánchez, Doug Fister, and Rick Porcello, was considered by sportswriters and sabermetrics analysts to be the best in the league that season, and Scherzer personally was undefeated through the first three months of the season. On June 29, after earning the win in a 6-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, he became the first Tiger to start a season with a 12-0 record and the first MLB player to do so since Roger Clemens in 1986. With his 6-2 defeat of the Toronto Blue Jays on July 3, Scherzer's streak of 18 consecutive starts without taking the loss, which began the previous September, tied Bobo Newsom's 1940 record for the longest in Tigers history. He suffered his first loss of the season on July 13, losing 7-1 to the Texas Rangers in his 14th start, falling one game short of Clemens's 14-0 MLB record. By that point, Scherzer had already been named to his first MLB All-Star Game, one of six Tigers selected for the 2013 competition.

2014
Scherzer avoided contract arbitration on January 18, 2014, when he signed a one-year, $15.525 million contract extension with the Tigers. Although Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski spent spring training hoping to negotiate a longer and more expensive contract extension, Scherzer announced on March 23 that he would not extend his tenure with the Tigers beyond the 2014 season, and that he would test the free agent market the following offseason.

2017
A stress fracture in the knuckle of the ring finger on Scherzer's pitching hand caused him to miss part of spring training and prevented him from being the Nationals' Opening Day starter in 2017. Instead, although he was able to recover by the start of the season, he was Washington's No. 3 starter, behind Stephen Strasburg and Tanner Roark. On May 14, Scherzer pitched his first career immaculate inning, striking out César Hernández, Odúbel Herrera, and Aaron Altherr of the Philadelphia Phillies on exactly nine pitches. He pitched six innings of that game, allowing three runs on nine hits and striking out eight in the 6-5 comeback win for Washington.

2020
Although the COVID-19 pandemic forced several changes to the 2020 MLB season, including a shortened 60-game regular season and implementation of a universal designated hitter, the latter of which meant that pitchers like Scherzer would no longer go to bat during games, Scherzer forced himself not to deviate from his usual practice routine. Both Scherzer and the Nationals failed to repeat their previous season's performance in the pandemic-shortened year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/12/16/nationals-max-scherzer-contract-discussions/

2021
Scherzer was once again scheduled to be the Nationals' Opening Day starter in 2021, and he was set to face New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom on April 1. An outbreak of the COVID-19 virus among the Nationals, however, postponed that opening series. Scherzer instead made his season debut against the Atlanta Braves on April 6, allowing a total of four home runs to Freddie Freeman, Dansby Swanson, and twice to Ronald Acuña Jr. in the 6–5 loss. On May 2, Scherzer pitched his first complete game of the season, allowing only one run in 106 pitches in a 3–1 defeat of the Miami Marlins only two hours before the birth of his third child. Facing the New York Yankees for his next start on May 8, Scherzer allowed one earned run on two hits and struck out 14 in $7 1/3$ innings. It was the 100th time in his career that he had recorded a double-digit number of strikeouts, a feat previously reached by Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, and Pedro Martinez. His 14 strikeouts were also the most of any pitcher at the new Yankees Stadium since it opened in 2009. Scherzer only took a no decision in the game, however, as closer Brad Hand's blown save took the game into extra innings and Tanner Rainey walked off Gleyber Torres for a 4-3 Yankees win.

Los Angeles Dodgers (2021)
As the Nationals entered the 2021 MLB trading deadline, general manager Mike Rizzo decided to focus on rebuilding for 2022, sending a total of eight veteran players to other teams in exchange for 12 prospects. One of these deadline trades sent Scherzer and shortstop Trea Turner to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for four prospects: pitchers Josiah Gray and Gerardo Carrillo, catcher Keibert Ruiz, and outfielder Donovan Casey. Scherzer faced the Houston Astros, led by former Nationals manager Dusty Baker, in his first start with his new team, and he allowed two runs on five hits while striking out 10 batters in seven innings of the Dodgers' 7–5 victory.

Scherzer reached two MLB milestones on September 12 while facing the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. In the top of the second inning, Scherzer sent Fernando Tatis Jr., Eric Hosmer, and Tommy Pham down in order on nine pitches, joining Chris Sale and Sandy Koufax as the only players in MLB history to pitch three immaculate innings. Three innings later, he struck out Hosmer again to record his 3,000th MLB strikeout, becoming the 19th pitcher to reach the mark. Hosmer ultimately ended Scherzer's perfect game bid, however, with a double in the eighth inning. The next day, Scherzer was named the NL Player of the Week for the sixth time in his MLB career. Allowing only five earned runs through 58 innings, Scherzer's 0.78 ERA was the lowest of any pitcher in their first nine starts with a new team since ERA was a recorded statistic. The previous record-holder was Dana Fillingim, who had a 0.79 ERA in his first nine games with the Boston Braves in 1918. Scherzer went 7–0 with the Dodgers in 11 starts, finishing the season with a 15–4 record and 2.46 ERA in 30 starts, and he led all qualified pitchers with a 0.86 WHIP and a .185 batting average against.

Scherzer's first loss as a Dodger came in his first postseason appearance, when he started Game 3 of the 2021 NLDS against the division rival San Francisco Giants. He lost the pitchers' duel to Alex Wood, allowing the only run of the entire game on a solo home run to Evan Longoria in the seventh inning. Scherzer redeemed himself from the loss with his first major league save in Game 5, pitching the final inning of the Dodgers' 2-1 series-clinching victory. The Dodgers went on to face the Atlanta Braves in the 2021 NLCS, and Scherzer was called to start Game 2, making his fourth pitching appearance in 12 days. He struggled through the outing, allowing two runs over $4 1/3$ innings before leaving with dead arm syndrome. He missed his next scheduled start in Game 6 with "general soreness", but insisted that he was not injured and would be available to start a potential Game 7. The Dodgers lost that game 4–2 in Scherzer's absence and were eliminated from the postseason, while the Braves made their first World Series appearance in 29 years. At the end of the season, Scherzer was one of several high-profile Dodgers released into free agency. During the baseball awards season, Scherzer was named the Sporting News NL Pitcher of the Year, the Players Choice NL Outstanding Pitcher, and was part of the All-MLB First Team. He also came in third in Cy Young voting, behind winner Corbin Burnes and runner-up Zack Wheeler.

New York Mets (2022–2023)
Scherzer was one of several free agents that the New York Mets spent a combined $254.5 million to sign on December 1, 2021. His three-year, $130 million guaranteed contract was the fifth-highest in Mets history, while his $44.3 million average annual value was an MLB record, surpassing the $36 million AAV that the New York Yankees awarded Gerrit Cole prior to the 2020 season. As Scherzer's No. 31 jersey was retired by the Mets for longtime catcher Mike Piazza, he switched to No. 21 for the new team. Scherzer was one of the last free agents to be signed before the 2021 MLB lockout went into effect, and as a member of the players' union executive committee, he was at the forefront of collective bargaining agreement negotiations during the lockout.

International career
Scherzer was originally scheduled to pitch for the United States national baseball team at the 2017 World Baseball Classic, but was kept out of the tournament by a stress fracture in the ring finger of his right hand. He was instead replaced by Nationals teammate Tanner Roark.

Pitching and preparation style
Scherzer is notably superstitious and keeps a rigid routine on days where he is scheduled to start. He is also secretive about aspects of this routine, preferring not to reveal his superstitions unless he has stopped using them.

Personal life
Scherzer has complete heterochromia iridium, a condition which causes his left eye to be brown and his right eye to be blue. Although he was born with blue eyes, the left turned green when he was about four months old and was brown by his first birthday. Merchandise featuring Scherzer's face, such as bobblehead figurines, tend to highlight his heterochromia, and in 2017, Nationals Park unveiled a banner featuring a close-up of Scherzer's eyes with backwards and forwards K's in the pupils to represent strikeouts. Scherzer has two pet dogs with heterochromia named Rocco and Bo.

Scherzer met his wife, Erica May-Scherzer, in 2005. Both were pitching for Missouri at the time, but her softball career was cut short by a heart condition, and she went on to work as a historical searcher in Colorado. When Scherzer signed with the Nationals in 2015 and the family moved to Washington, May-Scherzer became involved with an anti-human trafficking nonprofit organization called Polaris. The couple married on November 23, 2013, in Scottsdale, Arizona, and they have three children together. Their first child, daughter Brooklyn Scherzer, was born in 2017, followed by second daughter Kacey Hart Scherzer in 2019. The couple's first son, Derek Alexander Scherzer, was born in 2021, only two hours after Scherzer pitched a complete game victory over the Marlins.

Scherzer had one sibling, a younger brother named Alex, who died by suicide in 2012 after suffering from depression for most of his adult life. Scherzer prefers not to speak about his brother's death in public, but bonded with Mark McGwire, both his and his brother's favorite childhood player, in the aftermath of Alex's death.