Tim Britton of The Athletic had the opportunity to do a lengthy interview with New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer on his offseason routine. This has been a big topic of discussion for pitchers in general since the lockout is making it less clear when spring training and the regular season will begin.

However, Scherzer is preparing as if everything will be starting on time. “I’m just going to go. You have just as much danger not pitching as pitching.” He goes on to say that regardless of what happens, he still wants to have his body ready to pitch eight full months of baseball like usual.

Scherzer said that “February 1 is a date you circle within a few days of throwing your first bullpen. If that’s your first bullpen, you’ve got to start ramping up your throwing January 1. January 1 is a big day for everybody.” He said that has remained true even with the lockout, as he tries to get himself in game form for whenever games may begin.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner also spoke a bit on his personal offseason routine. One of the major points was his talk on squatting. Scherzer said he had to drop squatting a few seasons ago because his body couldn’t take it anymore.

“From my history squatting, I would always try to really squat heavy… to where I was basically doing four sets of eight and really on that last set trying to get the weight up as high as possible. In Spring Training, I would try to get to 365- that was my number… I was noticing l was getting little tweaks that would keep me from continuing.”

After numerous “tweaks,” Scherzer decided he had to give up that exercise.

From there, he talked about how he has dealt with injuries throughout his career, and how he can determine if he is able to pitch or not.

“The line [in the sand] is when I can tell that I’m getting through the baseball. If I feel like I can get through the baseball, I’m going to take the ball.” Scherzer said that he has pitched through many injuries in his career because he was still able to get through the ball.

He put “getting through the ball” as the ball goes where he wants it, as opposed to coming around the ball where his velocity and accuracy drops.

Scherzer has ramped his training up to be ready for whatever 2022 may bring, whether the season starts on time or not. He is going to be ready to pitch 200 innings, or 20 innings, whatever is required of him this season.