Max Scherzer developed into an elite pitcher during his five-season stint with the Detroit Tigers.
He gives credit to Jim Leyland, his former manager, for cultivating his bulldog mentality and confidence to compete deep into games.
Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young winner, is one of the best pitchers of his generation, but he didn’t earn his first All-Star appearance until his age-28 season in 2013, his fourth of five seasons in Detroit. Leyland, touched by the way Scherzer spoke about him, didn’t want to accept any credit.
“I really didn’t do anything to help him, to be honest with you, other than the fact that I believed in him,” Leyland told the Free Press on Wednesday, before Scherzer pitched for the New York Mets against the Tigers at Comerica Park. “I think he knew that I believed in him, and if that helped him, then I’m very proud of that. But I didn’t do anything.”
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The Tigers acquired Scherzer from the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a three-team trade, also including the New York Yankees, in December 2009. Dave Dombrowski, then the general manager, traded away a pair of All-Stars, Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson, to get Scherzer, Daniel Schlereth, Phil Coke and Austin Jackson.
“A lot of great memories here,” Scherzer said Tuesday, one day before the Tigers tagged him for six runs and chased him in the fourth inning. “The five years I was here were arguably the best five years in recent history for the Tigers. This is where I developed. I really came into my own here. Huge five years of my career.”
The right-handed Scherzer came to the Tigers with 46 games of experience in the big leagues. He posted an 82-35 record with a 3.52 ERA and 1,081 strikeouts across 1,013 innings in 161 starts over those five seasons, from 2010-14.
That included winning the American League Cy Young in 2013, and leading the AL in wins in both 2013 and 2014.
“I was a young arm and wasn’t refined yet,” Scherzer said. “Early in my career, I struggled going third time through the order. But with Jim, he was, ‘No, you’re going to pitch. I don’t care. You go out there and do your job. You’re pitching deep in the ballgame. You’re going to learn.’ That put me in a position to fail. You have to learn by failure.”
Opponents hit .270 with a .336 on-base percentage when Scherzer went through the batting order for a third time over his first five seasons (2008-12) with the Diamondbacks and Tigers.
He learned from those struggles.
The results proved the development. With the Tigers in 2013-14, Scherzer held opponents to a .213 batting average and .278 on-base percentage when going through the batting order for a third time.
“I believe pitchers are supposed to pitch, and I pitched them,” Leyland said. “I was fortunate enough to have some real good ones, especially in Detroit. I’m so happy for all those guys. They were great teammates. They treated me great. They were very respectful.”
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Scherzer has appeared in 435 games in his 16-year MLB career for the Diamondbacks, Tigers, Washington Nationals (2015-21), Los Angeles Dodgers (2021) and Mets (2022-23).
In Scherzer’s tremendous career, opponents have a slash line — batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage — of .229/.282/.386 when facing Scherzer for the second time in a game. In their third time facing Scherzer in a game, the slash line drops to .229/.291/.379 — meaning they’re actually hitting the same and slugging slightly worse the later they face him.
Almost every other pitcher is significantly less effective the third time through the order.
“I can only thank Leyland and his staff for pushing me to keep going,” Scherzer said. “He didn’t just pull me out of the game after four innings and 80 pitches because it was the third time through the lineup. No, I went out there and got pushed, and I developed because of that.
“Looking back on that, you don’t see that attitude anymore, and that’s something that’s disappointing for me, personally, looking at the game. We’re so quick to hook the starter to save them and not put them in that situation. No, fail in that situation, learn how to get better, and that’s how you develop. I felt like that’s a huge component of why I was able to develop so well here.”
The .229 opponent batting average against Scherzer ranks second — behind only Clayton Kershaw‘s .223 opponent batting average — among 15 pitchers with at least 500 innings in third-time-through situations since the beginning of the 2008 season.
He is elite among the elite.
On the list of 15 pitchers, Scherzer ranks ahead of David Price (.230), Félix Hernández (.238), Justin Verlander (.241), Johnny Cueto (.246), Zack Grienke (.247), Jon Lester (.251), Ervin Santana (.252), Cole Hamels (.256), Madison Bumgarner (.261), Adam Wainwright (.263), James Shields (.264), CC Sabathia (.265) and Rick Porcello (.269).
“He’s a great pitcher, a great talent, a great guy,” Leyland said. “I was very, very fortunate to have him pitch for me, as I was with his buddy.”
His “buddy” is Verlander.
He pitches Thursday for the Mets at Comerica Park.
“They were like family to me,” Leyland said, “and they always will be.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.