Max Scherzer’s slider used to be the pitch that made everything else work.
Back in 2018, during his 300-strikeout season, he leaned on it heavily - 577 sliders, to be exact - and the results were brutal for hitters. They batted just .195 against it, slugged .353, and whiffed on 46.6% of their swings, according to Statcast.
That version of the pitch is long gone. In 2026, Scherzer’s slider has been getting hammered, with hitters batting .299 and slugging .657 against it.
To put that in perspective, Aaron Judge hit .284 with a .627 slugging percentage in his 52-home-run rookie season in 2017. The average hitter seeing Scherzer’s slider this year has been more productive in those two categories than Judge was in one of the most famous power debuts ever.
So Scherzer has leaned harder on something different: the curveball.
The curveball hasn’t fixed the bigger picture, and it hasn’t cleaned up his bloated ERA. But it has become a real weapon again.
Hitters are batting .224 and slugging .327 against it this season, and Scherzer has bumped its usage up to 14%. At his peak, he usually threw it less than 10% of the time.
Now it’s his third-most-used secondary pitch, behind only his slider at 17.1% and his changeup at 15%.
Part of the shift may trace back to his arm angle. FanGraphs shows Scherzer’s release point has climbed from a 24-degree arm angle in 2020 to around 37 degrees now. That higher slot could be helping the curveball play with more vertical break, while his lower three-quarters delivery in Washington suited his fastball and slider better.
The spin rate hasn’t really changed much. His curveball averaged 2,782 rpm in 2020 and 2,704 rpm in 2026. That makes it look less like a pure stuff jump and more like a pitch Scherzer is using differently.
And he is using it differently. He’s turned to the curveball more often as a chase pitch, trying to get hitters to expand the zone. In one example, he gets Willson Contreras to chase a curveball near the dirt after first locating a fastball at the bottom of the strike zone.
He’s also showing more confidence throwing it in the zone earlier in counts. In another example, he drops the pitch at the bottom of the strike zone and gets Pete Alonso to fly out to left field.
There may not be many more chances to watch that version of Scherzer. The 42-year-old could be making his final start of the season this weekend, which would leave the curveball with only a few more opportunities to work its way into the story before the conversation shifts from what Scherzer can still do on a mound to when his plaque will hang in Cooperstown.
In Other News...
Josh Donaldson Just Turned Blue Jays Fans Against Vladdy Again
Josh Donaldson is back in the Blue Jays conversation for the kind of reason that always gets attention in Toronto: he had something pointed to say about Vladimir Guerrero Jr. On the Get It Done League podcast, Donaldson weighed in on Guerreros 2026 season and made it clear he does not view the slugger as a $500 million player, framing the debate around Guerreros recent production and the expectations that come with his name.
For Blue Jays fans, the critique lands in a familiar place because Guerrero is still judged not just on what he does, but on what he is supposed to become. Donaldson pointed to the home run totals and argued Guerrero looks more like a line-drive hitter than a true power bat, which only sharpens the ongoing discussion about his overall value and where he fits among the games highest-paid stars. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Suddenly Have A Pitching Battle Worth Watching
The Blue Jays found real value in the Rule 5 Draft with Spencer Miles, who quickly grew into an important part of the pitching mix and gave the organization a reminder that help does not always have to come from outside. Now, with 2027 in view, Toronto is staring at a deeper internal competition than it has had in a while, with several arms in the system making a case for major-league roles.
Dylan Cease, Jos Soriano and Trey Yesavage are among the names in that conversation, and the Blue Jays still plan to scout the Rule 5 Draft for another possible bargain. Even so, the bigger picture points toward Toronto leaning more heavily on what it already has in house, while leaving room for a free-agent relief addition or two if the market lines up the right way. [Read more 🡒]
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Now Has To Win Blue Jays Fans Back
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. spent the final homestand doing what he could to smooth over a rough public stretch, apologizing to fans and teammates for comments he made about his contract and the level of support around him. Before the Blue Jays opened that home stand, he said he regretted the remarks and promised to keep working to live up to the kind of deal that comes with a massive spotlight.
Guerrero also pointed to his fathers advice as part of what pushed him to address it directly, a reminder that the episode has become as much about image and trust as it is about baseball. For Toronto, the larger question now is whether the apology is the start of a reset or just the first step in a longer effort to win back a fan base that expects more from its biggest star. [Read more 🡒]