Written by Eddie Matz at ESPN.com
The reigning National League Cy Young winner might not be ready for Opening Day.
“I don’t even want to comment on it,” Max Scherzer said after the Nationals’ first official spring training workout, when asked whether he would be ready for Washington’s April 3 opener. “Because I don’t even know what I’m going to be able to do or not. It’d be unfair for me to even project or even talk about that. Really, we’ll just take it day by day and just see where this finger’s at and just keep progressing.”
The 32-year old right-hander is recovering from a fractured bottom knuckle in his right ring finger. He first experienced discomfort during a late August start against the Baltimore Orioles, but he didn’t miss any time, going on to lead the NL in innings (228⅓), strikeouts (284) and wins (20) en route to nabbing his second Cy Young Award. He became just the sixth pitcher to win the award in both leagues.
The injury was originally diagnosed as a sprain, but in December, further testing revealed it was actually a break. For most of the offseason, Scherzer — who was planning on pitching for the United States in the World Baseball Classic but had to withdraw — has been limited to throwing a tennis ball and a lacrosse ball and has started throwing baseballs only recently.
“This is the week that I’ve finally picked a baseball up and been able to throw with a modified grip,” said Scherzer, who played catch during Thursday’s workout but was the only member of Washington’s starting rotation who didn’t throw off a mound. “So as this fracture continues to heal, as the symptoms continue to alleviate, we get treatment on everything, I’ll be able to work back into all my grips and obviously get back on the mound.”
As for when that might be, his manager isn’t making any assumptions.
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