Nationals’ Max Scherzer ‘good,’ ‘strong’ and rarin’ to go

WASHINGTON (AP) — With a “2019 World Series Champions” patch stitched onto the right sleeve of his white Washington Nationals jersey, and his eyes—one brown, one blue—open wide, Max Scherzer made it clear as clear can be Saturday that his neck is just fine and his preseason routine is same as ever.

“I played catch probably two weeks after the World Series and I was playing catch OK, so I knew that there was no long-term damage. I did the whole MRI thing and that came away clean, too. Everybody wanted to dot their I’s and cross their T’s and everybody did,” Scherzer said with a chuckle at the club’s annual fan festival at Nationals Park.

“I’m good. I’m strong. I’m good,” he added, as if to emphasize the point. “I can throw a baseball. I’m good.”

The three-time Cy Young Award winner, third in the 2019 NL voting after going 11-7 with a 2.92 ERA and 243 strikeouts in 172 1/3 innings, started his preparation for spring training on Jan. 1, just like he did a year ago.

Who had January 11th in the pool for the first “best shape of his life” article to come out?

Vlad Guerrero Jr. ‘pushing himself hard’ during offseason workouts

Blue Jays CEO Mark Shapiro told Toronto’s 590 The Fan this morning that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. “couldn’t be pushing himself harder” in offseason workouts. He’s apparently trying to trim down and strengthen that large-ish frame of his.

Touted as the top prospect in baseball, Guerrero hit .272/.339/.433 with 15 home runs and 69 RBI over his first 123 major league games and played a less-than-great third base. He’s obviously super talented and one strongly suspects that, even if he did not do anything to get in better shape, he’ll be an excellent hitter in the big leagues for a long time. His track record in the minors speaks for itself.

Still, baseball history is loaded with would-be studs who petered out early or never panned out entirely due to poor conditioning or what have you. Sounds like Vlad is determined not to have that happen to him, and that’s a good thing.