Nationals ace Max Scherzer, who is dealing with a right thumb injury, says he is “literally day-to-day” when it comes to his recovery.
But it appears doubtful that day will be Tuesday, his next scheduled start, in Atlanta against the Braves.
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The right-hander told Natsinsider.com he was unable to throw Sunday morning because of the jammed thumb, which he suffered while batting in last Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Cardinals.
“I’m not ready to rule it out completely, but I also have to be honest with myself,” Scherzer said. “Anytime you deal with an injury to your pitching hand, you literally have to be 100 percent to go back out there.”
Scherzer described the injury as a sprained ligament and said his thumb is still sore. The 30-year-old pitcher, who signed a seven-year, $210 million deal with the Nationals in January, says he wants to play it safe.
“It’s my pitching hand,” Scherzer said. “Any type of discomfort’s going to alter the way I throw the ball. If I alter the way I throw the ball, I can really run the risk of major injury to my arm. So I really respect that. I really respect that I have to be at 100 percent. That’ll be my test: If I can throw all my pitches on flat ground at 100 percent.”
Scherzer said he dealt with a similar nagging injury while at the University of Missouri, returned too soon and almost suffered a major injury as a result.
“I’ve dealt with an injury before in college where I had a cut on my middle finger, and I went back out there and pitched in pain,” he said. “And two weeks later, I had biceps tendinitis and really almost kind of messed up my shoulder. I really respect the fact that you really have to be 100 percent to go back out there. And in this case, that’s how I’m going to treat it.”
Scherzer is off to a fast start with his new team, with a sterling 1.26 ERA and 0.837 WHIP in his first four starts.