Mike Rizzo has stumped for Max Scherzer for a decade. When Scherzer entered the Major League Baseball amateur draft in 2006, Rizzo was working for the Arizona Diamondbacks as director of scouting. He lobbied for Scherzer then. Rizzo got his way when Arizona drafted Scherzer 11th overall.
In the 2015 offseason, Rizzo went after Scherzer again. This time, Rizzo was the general manager of the Washington Nationals. They stunned baseball by signing Scherzer to a $210 million contract, vaulting him to the top of their rotation and making him the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history. Rizzo explained then that Scherzer carried the tenacity and stuff to be the league’s top pitcher, two skills Rizzo had been chasing since Scherzer was in college at Missouri. Wednesday, that assessment was confirmed.
Scherzer was named the National League Cy Young Award winner by a broad margin. He finished with 25 of 30 first-place votes to easily outdistance Chicago Cubs pitchers Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks. Scherzer’s 192 total points on a 7-4-3-2-1 voting scale were more than Lester (102) and Hendricks (85) combined. San Francisco Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner was fourth. Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw was fifth.
Scherzer is the first Washington pitcher to win the Cy Young Award since baseball returned to the District in 2005. He also became just the sixth pitcher in baseball history to win a Cy Young Award in each league. The others are Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Gaylord Perry. Scherzer won the 2013 American League Cy Young award while a member of the Detroit Tigers.
“Having this be the second one, I don’t know, for some reason, this means so much more to me,” Scherzer said on a conference call. “It just verifies everything I try to go out there and set out to achieve, and the method I try to go out there and do it. By winning the second one confirms that everything I try to do works.”
Consistent with his personal style, Scherzer received the news while on a boat in the British Virgin Islands surrounded by college friends and an upbeat mood. He is on vacation partaking in scuba diving, one of his favorite activities. When the news was announced, the effervescent Scherzer yelled and was doused by champagne launched at him by his fellow travelers and wife, Erica.
The night’s joy was a result of Scherzer’s pitching arsenal, demeanor and desperation to progress. He throws his fastball around 97 mph. He also dispatches a hard slider, a cutter, a curveball and a changeup to get hitters out. The mix allows him to lean on what is working in a particular day or produce devastating results when all the pitches cooperate, which was the case when he tied the major league record for strikeouts by whiffing 20 Tigers hitters on May 11. Scherzer became only the fourth pitcher in MLB history to strikeout 20 batters in a nine-inning game.
“This is a truly incredible achievement for Max,” Rizzo said in a statement. “When you look at the players who’ve preceded him in winning a Cy Young award in both leagues, you realize just what a tremendous accomplishment this is, and we are so proud to call him one of our own. On behalf of the entire Washington Nationals organization, we are thrilled for Max.”
Scherzer was an All-Star for the fourth consecutive season. He finished the year 20-7 with a 2.96 ERA. The 32 year old led the National League in strikeouts (284, a new franchise record), innings pitched, starts, quality starts, WHIP, opponent on-base percentage and strikeout-to-walk ratio.
“The entire Lerner family extends our hearty congratulations to Max on this tremendous honor,” said Washington Nationals owner Ted Lerner in a statement. “We have felt a connection to Max from his very first day in a Nationals uniform and the pride we felt then has only continued to grow with each historic feat he accomplishes. We are honored that he is the first Cy Young winner in our history, and look forward with great anticipation to what future heights his career in Washington will reach.”
Scherzer has five years remaining on hefty contract. Two years in, he has done nothing but deliver.
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