Injured Texas Rangers Starter Remains Ahead Of Schedule In Rehab

Texas Rangers starter Max Scherzer threw live batting practice before Monday's game against the Detroit Tigers.

DETROIT — Injured Texas Rangers starter Max Scherzer continued this recovery from surgery for a herniated disc on Monday as he threw a 25-pitch live batting practice session hours before they played the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park

Scherzer and manager Bruce Bochy both said that the 39-year-old right-hander threw all of his pitches against Davis Wendzel, Ezequiel Duran and Andrew Knizner.

It was another “check the box” moment, as he put it, as he continues what appears to be an ahead-of-schedule recovery from the surgery he had in mid-December.

“It’s surprising because of how often I’ve talked to people who have had the surgery and all of the bad outcomes there are,” Scherzer said. “A lot of people describe nerve pain that they have to deal with, and fortunately for me I have not dealt with any of that.”

After Scherzer had the surgery, the Rangers set an expectation that he might not be ready to re-join the rotation until the latter part of June. On Monday, Bochy said that the former Cy Young winner is doing everything he has to do to be ready sometime in May.

“We’re amazed at where he’s at at this point,” Bochy said, noting that while Scherzer is pushing, he’s not pushing so hard that he’s risking a setback.

Scherzer said that he hoped his next bullpen or live batting practice would be on Friday in Atlanta, where he hopes to throw 40 pitches, including an up/down, which simulates two innings based on the pitch count.

He went a combined 13-6 with the Mets and Rangers last year, finishing with a 3.77 ERA. With the Rangers he went 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA.

The Rangers are thin in the starting rotation. Left-hander Cody Bradford is the latest starter to go on the injured list with a back strain. He joined Scherzer on the 15-day injured list.

Texas has two other starters on the 60-day injured list that are recovering from Tommy John surgery — Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle.

The Rangers have listed right-hander Jon Gray as their probable starter for Tuesday’s game with Detroit. Beyond that the probables are TBA. Bochy said he would have an update on probable starters for Wednesday and Thursday after Monday night’s game.

You can find Matthew Postins on X @PostinsPostcard.

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