New York Mets starting pitcher Max Scherzer voices EXTREME frustrations with MLB’s pitch clocks

New York Mets superstar pitcher Max Scherzer reiterated his issues with MLB’s pitch clock following Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

This time Scherzer’s anger was due to home plate umpire Tripp Gibson citing the pitch clock for not allowing the three-time- Cy Young winner to complete his normal warm up routine.

‘You’re supposed to get eight warmup pitches, and I had seven. I asked Tripp if I could have the eighth pitch. Can I do my normal routine to warm up? And he’s telling me, ‘It’s the clock, it’s the clock,’ said Scherzer.

‘That’s what’s so frustrating. Look, I’m doing my normal routine. Why do we need to step through the game and have the umpires change routines when it’s not my fault for what’s going on here?’

‘I’m talking to Tripp, and he’s sitting here saying he can’t do anything about it. If he lets me throw the pitch, MLB gets mad at him.’

Scherzer’s anger was due to an umpire citing the pitch clock for not allowing his full warmup

Scherzer went on to throw for seven innings and recorded nine strikeouts in New Yorks win

Fans generally have approved of the clock, which has caused the average time of a nine-inning game to drop 28 minutes to 2 hour, 37 minutes.  

Scherzer would continue on to say: ‘This goes back to, why do we need a pitch clock for that situation? If I throw one more pitch, what is it, one second slower? Why can’t the umpire have discretion in that situation, to allow a pitcher to throw his eighth, normal warmup pitch?’

‘Why do we have to be so anal about this to have a clock shoved in everybody’s face to snuff out every single second that’s going through the game?’

‘It’s situations like that that are really frustrating not only for pitchers and players, but even the umpires. Tripp’s handcuffed. Why is Tripp handcuffed to not allow a normal routine? Why can’t Tripp make that call?’

During one of the several times he has spoken out against pitch clocks since spring training he even went is far as to argue that the clocks should be turned off if the game is moving along smoothly.

‘Umpires want to have that discretion,’ he Scherzer said. ‘They want to allow the game to be normal. The umpires are frustrated as we are that the game’s not normal and we’re living and dying by the clock. We’re way too far thinking about the clock in every single situation instead of having players have their normal routines.’ 

Scherzer improved to 3-0 in his last four starts, striking out a season-high nine while allowing two runs – one earned – and five hits in seven innings. The 39-year-old right-hander is 5-2 with a 3.21 ERA in his second season with the Mets.