Max Scherzer was called for both a quick-pitch balk and a pitch clock violation in the same inning Friday, and while the latter is pretty straight-forward, Scherzer was quite confused about the former:
“To me, the umpire had time, then he made a gesture or a signal like ‘you can go,’ and I go, Robles’ eyes are up, and I get called for a quick pitch balk,” Scherzer said. “He calls time, I come set, I get the green light, his eyes are up I’m going throw the ball. I thought that was a clean pitch. (The umpire) said no.”
The inning unraveled on Scherzer and the Mets after that, but Max acknowledged that it’s spring training for everybody – and as cliché as it sounds, it’s important given this is a brand-new rule.
“You have to press the limit on what you can and can’t do to find out where the boundary is on this, and I pressed it today,” Scherzer said. “We’re all working through this; hitters, umpires, pitchers. We have to figure out where the limit is.”
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His skipper’s response to it all?
“Max, and a lot of veteran pitchers, are going to use this time to test some things and make adjustments,” Buck Showalter said. “Everyone is looking for a competitive edge, and this is a good time to be testing those things. He’ll come out of here with a really good idea about what you can and can’t do, and what is beneficial. I’m happy with him doing that.”
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