Max Scherzer has been a player who has defied expectations his entire career, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he’s made his seven-year, $210 contract look like a bargain so far.
Even though he was a first-round draftee in 2006 and quickly established himself as a strikeout force, the prevailing knock on Scherzer is that his wonky mechanics would catch up to him eventually.
Writing a prospect retrospective nearly a decade later, John Sickels quoted from his 2007 notes on Scherzer at Minor League Ball, “Some people think he’ll be a closer eventually, since his game relies more on power than finesse, plus there are concerns about his durability.