A multitude of markers spanned the 2019 Nationals season. From 19-31, to Kurt Suzuki's walk-off home run against the New York Mets, to the postseason rallies.
Max Scherzer's busted face is also among the easy things to remember about 2019. He was starting batting practice with bunts on June 18. This is standard for every hitter. First the bunts, then the swings. Pitchers tend to practice this more for obvious reasons.
Scherzer butchered a bunt -- later admitting he was trying to mess with third base coach Bob Henley, who was pitching -- and the ball kicked up into his face. His nose burst. Henley looked on aghast. Scherzer walked to the dugout, then the clubhouse with blood leaking from his face and confusion following him.
A day later, he pitched against Philadelphia with the broken nose, marching around the mound with brown, blue and black eyes. His 10th strikeout of the night came on a slider, ended the seventh inning and sent him into a celebratory spin.
He will not hit, or practice hitting, this year.
The designated hitter will be used in the National League for the first time. Scherzer will no longer bat, which means one of his favorite activities is going away. But, the rules of the sport will finally be unified during its championship series, something he has long advocated for.
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"Especially this year, given the nature of what we are looking at here, this is an interesting time to have the league under one set of rules to see what this looks like," Scherzer told NBC Sports Washington. "Does it open up new opportunities we didn't even think about?"
If Scherzer never hits again, he will finish with a .193 batting average. He hit one home run. It came in 2017 against Chris O'Grady of the Miami Marlins. Scherzer ran around the bases with a smile on his face, then was initially ignored in the dugout.
He was one of the few pitchers who practiced hitting on a regular basis. Scherzer also liked to attempt stolen bases if he reached and was not held on at first base. This gave Davey Martinez significant stress. Scherzer stole three bases and was never caught. It would be a fun footnote on his coming Hall of Fame plaque.
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In general, Scherzer is intrigued by the rules tests and changes of 2020. He was adamant in spring training the playoff format should not be changed. He's withholding his current opinion -- for now -- on placing a runner at second base to start extra innings.
"Kind of with this realignment, where we play the NL East and the AL East, it's a very fascinating, to me, and very exciting divisional format of how teams are going to be playing across the country," Scherzer said. "Is that good or bad? I don't know. We've got to see. Is that worth changing the rules of the game, where we're at going forward? I don't know. That remains to be seen as well. For me, I'm just going to appreciate what 2020 is and what it's going to bring and what we've got to do to go out there and compete and win."
In his case, that no longer includes hitting.
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Max Scherzer is sort of OK with no longer hitting originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
