5 years agoWashington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer was once again one of baseball’s best pitchers in 2019. The World Series champion went 11-7 with a 2.92 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP, and a 35.1% strikeout rate over 172 ⅓ innings pitched. The 35-year-old has shown no signs of slowing down or deviating from what has made him so successful; his fastball averaged 94.9 MPH, his fastball and curveball spin rate were in the top nine and 20 percent of baseball, respectively, and his strikeout rate was in the top five percent of baseball. If we want to find some issues, the first main one is health concern. Age is starting to play a concern and Scherzer went on the 10-day IL twice in July, once for a back strain and once for a rhomboid strain. However, he was able to pitch well in the second half of the season and throughout the playoffs. The other small thing was a jump in hard-hit rate. Scherzer’s 2019 mark of 35.2% was a bit higher than his 30.7% career mark. That being said, his 2.93 SIERA suggests a stellar batted-ball profile, so it would not be surprising to see some positive regression in this metric in 2020. Scherzer is currently being drafted at about pick 17-18 overall and the fourth starting pitcher after Gerrit Cole, Jacob deGrom, and Justin Verlander. This makes sense and is a pretty straightforward pick. Scherzer has been and should continue to be a fantasy stud in 2020.--Connelly Doan - RotoBaller