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Rangers right-hander Max Scherzer was scheduled to make a rehab outing for Double-A Frisco Friday but that will no longer happen. Per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, the veteran has been scratched from that start, and the club is providing little information about his current status.
It’s been a challenging season for Scherzer, who has never dealt with a significant injury. Apart from his 2008 debut and the shortened 2020 season, he has never thrown less than 145 1/3 innings in a major league season. He logged at least 170 frames in each full season from 2009 to 2021.
But he is certainly going to fall short of that range this year. He has thrown 39 1/3 innings in the majors, and he’s running out of time to add to that total. He underwent back surgery in the offseason, and it was initially hoped that he could be back at some point in May, but that didn’t come to pass.
He began a rehab assignment in late April, but that was halted after one outing due to some soreness in his right thumb. Grant relayed on May 11 that Scherzer was dealing with a nerve issue running down his arm and had received a cortisone injection. Grant provided an update in a May 15 column, noting that Scherzer had received a Botox injection, a treatment for neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome and other nerve pain. In a May 28 column, Grant noted that neurogenic TOS normally features pain from the shoulder to the finger, but Scherzer’s case was the opposite, with pain going up his arm from his thumb. In another update on May 31, Grant again mentioned neurogenic TOS but noted that Scherzer has maintained the issue is not TOS.
Scherzer was eventually able to get healthy enough to get on the mound. He made two more rehab starts in June and was reinstated from the injured list that month. He made eight starts at the big league level, throwing the aforementioned 39 1/3 innings, allowing 3.89 earned runs per nine. But in the first week of August, he landed back on the IL due to some right shoulder fatigue. As mentioned, he was planning to start a rehab assignment Friday, but that won’t happen now.
It’s undoubtedly a frustrating experience for Scherzer with the constant starting and stopping this year, but there’s little reason for the club to push him at this point if he’s not 100%. The club is 59-69 and 10.5 games back of the Astros in the West. The Playoff Odds at FanGraphs and the PECOTA Standings at Baseball Prospectus put their chances of cracking the postseason at less than half of a percentage point.
With their season more or less on life support, the club and Scherzer can focus on his long-term health. As of last week, the 40-year-old said he was planning to pitch again in 2025. He won’t take the hill Friday; further developments will undoubtedly be forthcoming in the next few weeks.
Scherzer is scheduled to hit free agency at season’s end, and his health status will likely play a key role in how the winter plays out for him. Plenty of clubs would be interested in him based on his fantastic track record, but the mention of neurogenic TOS will undoubtedly raise some flags. Last summer, Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post looked at the two different kinds of TOS and why the results are often divergent. Merrill Kelly once had venous TOS but was able to recover and has pitched at a high level for years afterward. At the same time, neurogenic TOS is often more debilitating, with pitchers like Stephen Strasburg significantly hampered by the condition.
Again, Scherzer has insisted he is not dealing with neurogenic TOS, though he does have a nerve issue of some kind. Whatever is ailing him, it’s been a significant roadblock this year. He will undoubtedly be exploring all avenues with medical experts in the coming weeks to find a path toward his goal of pitching next year. As of Friday, he has a 3.16 ERA in almost 3,000 career innings pitched and is tenth on the all-time strikeout list.
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