ImpactScherzer has been a flyball pitcher throughout his career, and while he's mostly done well to offset damage to his ratios by striking out batters at a prolific clip, his command seems to have betrayed him in his age-38 season. He was stung hard by the long ball Saturday, with the Red Sox taking him deep a season-high four times before he was lifted after 93 pitches. Scherzer has now served up 15 home runs over his last nine starts and owns a 1.97 HR/9 for the season, almost double his career-long rate (1.04). Scherzer is likely due for a turnaround in his home-run rate to some degree, but skills degradation may at least partially explain some of his ongoing struggles. Per Statcast, opposing hitters have posted a 10.3 percent barrel rate, 89.1 mile-per-hour average exit velocity and 38.7 percent hard-hit rate against Scherzer this season. All of those figures are the worst of Scherzer's career since the beginning of the Statcast era in 2015.
JULY 25, 2023•ROTOWIRE
