Tonight is Max Scherzer's Tiger debut. The word on the internet is that Scherzer is a top tier pitcher and Detroit did well to get a hold of him. I'm sure not going to doubt wiser people than me, but his Spring numbers did not impress me (I know, "Spring stats don't mean anything" but that's all I have). Apparently Max decided about half way through Spring Training that he needed to focus more, so he started approaching the games like he would a regular season game. Here is what Tom Gage wrote in this morning's DetNews:
What was learned in spring training is that for Max to become SuperMax, if indeed he can, he has to be all in, all the time.
He can't get by with half intensity. It has to be max for Max.
He can't get by approaching any outing as less than a huge outing.
His entire spring training turned around when he stopped treating it like spring training. He knows himself well enough to realize that unless he's into every outing 100 percent, he's not himself.
Even with the turn around Max had a WHIP of 1.76. So he basically averaged almost 2 base runners per inning he pitched. For comparison, Nate Robertson had a WHIP of 1.30 when he was traded and Rick Porcello had 0.78. Max's ERA was 7.15 for the spring. Historically Max has a WHIP of 1.32 and an ERA of 3.86 in 226 1/3 innings over his 2 years with the Diamondbacks.
He goes up against Luke Hochevar. Hochevar has a slightly higher WHIP (1.47) and a much higher ERA (5.88). Hopefully the Tigers can take advantage of Royals pitching tonight as they did on Opening Day.
The game starts at 8:10 pm EST but because it "April in the D" we can't watch the game until the Red Wings game is over. Normally if there was a conflict the Tigers would be bumped to FSN+ but they have the Pistons there, so we have to wait. Maybe I can watch American Idol and a Tigers' game. The game will be re-broadcast at midnight in its entirety on FSN Detroit.
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