Who can go back to the memory bank to remember June 21, 2019? Indeed, that was the night Walker Buehler ruled the earth. It was in that game at Dodger Stadium that Buehler struck out 16 Colorado Rockies in a 4-2 Los Angeles win.
It was one of those nights where you say to yourself that Buehler could be the next Max Scherzer, at least in terms of the ability to go out and have a game like that. Obviously that serves as a lead in to our next point.
Recently, Buehler spoke about his off-season routine with Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Interestingly enough, Buehler took a page out of Scherzer’s book with what he did this off-season.
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Undeniably, Buehler soaked up some knowledge during his All-Star apperance in Cleveland last season. It was there he spoke to Scherzer about the veteran’s own off-season routine.
“I didn’t take as much time off. It’s becoming like a thing. I talked to Max Scherzer at the All-Star Game about it.”
Without question, that’s interesting for me to read. My thought is with all the talk of pitch counts and innings limits around the game, starting pitchers would be told to take more time off. Especially those in their early 20’s like Buehler. However, that was not the case for Buehler in the winter months.
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While learning something new every day, Buehler spoke briefly about his first bullpen session of spring training.
“I feel fine, was throwing all right today. When you shut down, all this stuff has to stretch out again. The longer you take off, the tighter the hatch battens down.”
Right now, Buehler sounds to be taking things slowly and rounding back into form for the upcoming season. Still – how exciting is it that as I write this – our favorite fellas are out in Arizona throwing bullpens and getting ready for the season ahead?
Although we have basically made it through another winter, I’m ready to go right now. Start playing the games.
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