Pfaadt vs. Scherzer, The Rookie vs. Future Hall of Famer

Two Pitchers at the opposite ends of their careers will face off in World Series Game 3 between the Diamondbacks and the Rangers

The Diamondbacks and Rangers will send out two starters at the opposite ends of their careers for World Series Game 3 tonight at Chase Field. Future Hall of Famer and former Diamondback Max Scherzer will be on the mound for the Rangers while rookie Brandon Pfaadt is starting for the D-backs.

The 39 year old Scherzer's resume is impeccable. Three time Cy Young award winner, 8 time All Star, 2019 World Series Champion, and veteran of 16 major league seasons. Scherzer has a 214-108 record, a 3.15 ERA, and 3,367 career strikeouts in 2,834 innings pitched. That's all added up to 74 career WAR making him a likely first ballot Hall of Famer. 

Scherzer's Postseason track record is not quite as dominating, which makes sense since he's continually facing the best lineups. He has appeared in 29 postseason games, 24 of them starts, with a 7-8 record  and a 3.86 ERA in 140 innings. This will be his fourth start in the World Series. He made two starts for the Washington Nationals in 2019, going 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in 10.1 innings. The Nationals won that series in seven games.  He also made a start for the Tigers in 2012 against the Giants in their losing effort in that Fall Classic.

Many will remember Scherzer was a Diamondback, drafted by the Josh Byrnes run baseball operations department in the first round, 11th pick overall in 2016. Scherzer, emboldened by his agent Scott Boras held out, not signing until his bonus demands were met. He pitched in independent ball for the Fort Worth Cats of the American Association, and finally signed with minutes to spare before the deadline over the summer of 2017.  His time in the minor league system was short, as he made his major league debut April 29th. 2008 striking out eight of the 13 batters he faced in a perfect 4.1 innings of relief. 

Following the 2009 season Byrnes traded Scherzer in a three way deal to the Tigers. It took him a couple of years with that organization to become the perennial Cy Young contender. After some up and down seasons he finally broke through in 2013, winning his first of three Cy Young Awards.  

Traded by the Mets to the Rangers at the trade deadline, he suffered a shoulder injury, and was not expected to be back for this postseason. But he's battled through it to make two starts in the ALCS against the Astros.  They didn;t go very well, as he's given up seven runs in 6. 2 innings, but he was essentially making rehab starts while facing a top Astros lineup in the postseason. He's likely to be getting stronger and might be able to get deeper in tonight's game than he has previously.  Matthew Postins of our sister site, Inside the Rangers, chronicled Scherzer's road back. Be sure to check out their site to gain further perspective on the series from the Rangers side. 

Brandon Pfaadt's season turnaround has been everything the Diamondbacks could have hoped for. The D-backs minor league pitcher of the year from 2022. Pitching in the near impossible environments of Amarillo and Reno in AA and AAA, he struck out 218 batters in 167 innings while walking a microscopic 33 and  posting a 3.83 ERA. Keep in mind those are leagues where the average runs scored per game were well over five and a half.  The one potential glitch for Pfaadt was that he gave up 28 homers. That was mostly chalked up to very homer friendly the environments. Expectations for Pfaadt were high, and he was ranked right behind Corbin Carroll as the team's second best prospect heading into 2023. 

It was shocking then that his career started off as rough as it did. Making his major league debut May 3rd  against these very same Rangers in Arlington, he gave up four homers and seven earned runs in just 4.2 innings in a loss against. He made four more starts, was sent down for a month, recalled for another start in late June that went badly, and optioned back to Reno for a second time.  Through those first six outing he was 0-3 with a 9.82 ERA. (Somehow the team managed to win three of his starts).  Sent back down to Reno to make changes and adjustments, He came back up on July 22nd and has been with the team ever since.  Over his final 13 games of the regular season he posted a respectable 4.22 ERA. There were some very good outings mixed in with a few clunkers, but progress was being made. 

 When the postseason rolled around Pfaadt had a rough start against the Brewers in game one, giving up a run in the first, but then striking out the side to shut down the Rally. He gave up a two-run homer in the second, and left the game with runners on second and third and two outs in the third inning.  Still, Torey Lovullo praised Pfaadt for the three strikeouts in the first inning and felt his young rookie pitched better than his line, allowing the game to stay close enough for the lineup to come back, which they did in a 6-3 victory. 

It turned out to be the truth that Pfaadt was pitching better. He started the clinching game three against the Dodgers in the Division Series, throwing 4.1 scoreless innings, giving up just two hits, no walks while striking out two. Then with his team down two games to none in the NLCS he was nails when the teams came to Chase Field. Pfaadt Pitched the game of his life, going 5.2 innings scoreless, striking out nine and again not walking a batter. He followed that up by throwing four solid innings in the Game 7 clincher, giving two runs on four hits, including a solo homer. 

Pfaadt does not have the experience or track record that Scherzer does. But he's clearly not been overwhelmed by these moments, and should be ready to face the fearsome Rangers lineup this time around, having been battle tested. 

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