Max Scherzer proved he’s the most insanely competitive player in baseball by refusing to exit a game
Max Scherzer is obviously one of the best pitchers in baseball. He struck out 300 batters last season, becoming one of only six pitchers to reach that milestone since 1990. He's also really competitive and holds absolutely nothing back on the mound.
On Sunday, Scherzer proved once again that he's not to be messed with when he's in the middle of doing his job. After striking out 14 Reds through 7 2/3 innings, Scherzer was well over baseball's 100-pitch plateau for pitchers (he was at 117) with All-Star Joey Votto coming to the plate.
No one wants to be removed from a project they've already started. So, when manager Davey Martinez came out to the mound -- potentially to take his ace out of the game -- Scherzer put a lid on that conversation before it even started.
It didn't take long for Scherzer to back up his insistence on staying in the game, requiring only three pitches to retire Votto for his 15th strikeout of the game (at the :35 mark in the video below).
There are a couple of lessons to be gleaned from what we've just witnessed, the first, and most important, one being that Scherzer is a bad, bad man on the mound. Another, is that he's not going to come out of a game until he's good and ready to. At this point in his career, he probably knows best.
Eric Chesterton is a writer for MLB.com. He is an appreciator of the stolen base, the bunt against the shift and nearly every unconventional uniform design. He eagerly awaits Jamie Moyer's inevitable comeback.
