Why Pedro Martinez says Max Scherzer is a talent seen once every '150 years, 200 years'
Mets starting pitcher Max Scherzer blows bubble from the dugout as he watches teammates play against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the third inning of a baseball game Sunday, April 24, 2022, in Phoenix. Credit: AP
Pedro Martinez believes Max Scherzer is a unique pitching phenomenon, or at least one that comes around only every century or two.
“What you’re watching is something that you don’t see, unless you wait every 150 years, 200 years; that’s how good he is, how unusual he is,” Martinez said.
The Turner analyst and Hall of Fame pitcher was addressing a question from Newsday about the Mets pitcher’s durability on a video conference with reporters before Tuesday night’s Mets-Cardinals game on the network.
“Believe me, I’m watching everything he’s doing,” Martinez said. “Guess who is following closely, closely everything he does every single day?”
Martinez had just turned 38 when he closed his career pitching — and losing — two games for the Phillies against the Yankees in the 2009 World Series.
Scherzer turns 38 in July and does not seem to have lost a thing. He is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA and 0.76 WHIP as a Met.
“Max Scherzer is just someone unique, very special,” Martinez said. “I think he does it through discipline, understanding his body, how to prepare himself. Nobody is more professional than Max Scherzer out there.”
Martinez added that veteran pitchers “are taking over baseball. You see [Justin] Verlander, [Adam] Wainwright, Scherzer, [Clayton] Kershaw, those are guys that are a little bit of a throwback compared to the new generation of pitchers.
“They understand their bodies. They still have a little bit of that background that I grew up in, a little bit of a retro way of working and getting themselves ready for baseball.”
Martinez likes what he has seen in general from the Mets, saying, “the Mets and Blue Jays are really at the level that I expected them to be, and they look like they're real.”
Martinez has been a mentor of sorts for Yankees pitcher Luis Severino.
Asked what he thinks of Severino early this season, he said, “First of all, I think you have to tip your hat to the Yankees. They struggled [last year]. They needed him. They did not attempt to rush him, and that's where you have to tip your hat.
“Severino is looking good. Severino has the talent to do anything in baseball. And I just hope that the Yankees continue to be patient with him, understand the value he brings every five days and hopefully keep him healthy for the majority of the time.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
