Daniel Murphy Is Looking Forward To Seeing Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom Dominate For Mets
It's far from a regular occurrence that big-leaguers, past or present, are able to say that they shared a clubhouse with one of the best pitchers from their generation.
But in Daniel Murphy's case, he had the honor of being teammates with two great hurlers during his playing days in both Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer.
However, as dominant as these Cy Young aces are on the mound, their personalities could not be more different, according to Murphy.
"To be able to add Max, he was such a unique competitor when I got to Washington that it took me a bit to warm up to him because as a position player, we participate in baseball games, hopefully every single day, and the pitchers don't, starters especially," said Murphy on the Mets' zoom conference on Feb. 8.
"So Max would be able to put himself in this zone. When I got there, it was like 'man, this guy's kind of like freaking me out a bit every fifth day.' But then I came to appreciate that's how he competes. You can see it on the mound and then he doesn't come out of that level of competition and focus until the skipper comes and grabs the ball from him."
Murphy signed a three-year, $37.5 million deal with the Nationals prior to the 2016 season. During his time in D.C., Murphy made back-to-back All-Star appearances from 2016 to 2017, while Scherzer captured two straight Cy Young Awards during these campaigns.
As for deGrom, he burst onto the scene in 2014 for the Mets and went onto capture the NL Rookie of the Year trophy. Murphy and deGrom were teammates in New York from 2014 to 2015, and Murphy watched the right-hander rise to stardom and fan 13 batters in his first career playoff start against the Dodgers in the NLDS back in '15.
But as far as comparing deGrom to Scherzer, Murphy admitted that these pitchers carried themselves in an opposite manner every fifth day.
"Jacob's temperament is a bit different than that," said Murphy. "But I think It'll be a ton of fun when we get baseball to watch those two guys go 1-2."
From 2016 to 2019, Scherzer and deGrom won two Cy Young Awards a piece in the NL. Now, they are slated to be co-aces in the Mets' rotation this season.
Unfortunately, deGrom's historic 2021 campaign was cut short due to a right elbow injury a season ago. But the Mets are hopeful that he can bounce back and stay healthy across a full season in 2022. If deGrom and Scherzer can stay on the mound, they have the potential to be the best 1-2 punch in baseball next year and beyond.
