3 Mets who need to have a better month in May

3) Max Scherzer had a very strange April for the Mets

On the rosin-smothered surface, Max’s numbers don’t look bad. His 3.72 ERA is higher than you’d expect, but that’s solid. 17 strikeouts in 19 innings is fine, but not up to his standards either.

If you look a little deeper, you’ll see causes for concern. His HR/9 has basically doubled from last year (0.8 in 2022, 1.9 in April), his BB/9 is nearly triple (1.5 in 2022, 4.2 in April), and as mentioned above, his K/9 is down from 10.7 last year to 7.9 so far this year. Naturally, his K/BB ratio is also down from 7.21 to 1.89. The average velocity on most of his pitchers is also down almost a full mile per hour.

His Savant page isn’t pretty either. His hard hit rate and xwOBA are in the 48th percentile, his strikeout rate is in the 46th percentile, his xSLG is in the 37th percentile, his walk rate and average exit velocity are in the 25th percentile, and his barrel rate is i the 19th percentile. To summarize, opponents are hitting the crap out of the ball when it’s in the zone and they’re laying off of pitches when Scherzer misses.

As if all that wasn’t worrying enough, Scherzer was ejected from his last start in LA and suspended 10 games in a ridiculous ruling by Phil Cuzzi and MLB. He is due back this week and will likely pitch against a depleted Detroit Tigers team, so that’s a good opportunity to turn things around.