5 players who deserve a B grade for 2022

3) Max Scherzer was nearly everything the Mets could’ve asked for this year.

Mad Max made 23 starts and pitched 145.1 innings. He allowed 108 hits, 37 earned runs, 24 walks, and struck out 173 batters. His ERA was a sparkling 2.29, his FIP was 2.62, his WHIP was 0.91, and his ERA+ was 169.

Scherzer’s Savant page is great. He’s in the 96th percentile in walk rate, 91st percentile in chase rate, 89th percentile in strikeout rate, 87th percentile in xERA/xwOBA, and 87th percentile in xBA. He does give up some hard hit balls (30th percentile in barrel rate), but he doesn’t give up many homers (only 13, good for an HR/9 of 0.8).

Unfortunately Scherzer was the star of one of the scariest moments of the Mets season. Scherzer removed himself from the game on May 18th and was later diagnosed with an oblique injury. He would go on to miss six weeks before returning in early July, but he never fully healed. He missed two more weeks in September when the oblique flared up again, and he did not look right in his lone postseason start, causing speculation of continued oblique issues.

Unfortunately that’s why Scherzer gets a B. He was incredible when he was on the field, but he missed significant time and he had his worst starts at times when he couldn’t afford it.