Max Scherzer Says Former Player Chris Young Offers 'Different Feel' As Texas Rangers GM

Max Scherzer enjoyed his experience playing for a Texas Rangers team led by general manager and former player Chris Young.

Texas Rangers pitcher Max Scherzer wasn’t completely flying blind when it came to general manager Chris Young.

Scherzer told “Foul Territory” that he served on some MLB committees with Young when Young worked for the league after retiring as a player.

Young started his management career in 2018, working for Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre as MLB’s vice president of on-field operations, initiatives & strategy. He was later promoted to Torre’s role as senior vice president in 2020. Soon after, he was hired by the Rangers under then-president of baseball operations Jon Daniels.

Max Scherzer said Rangers general manager Chris Young brings a "different feel" to the job / © Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Young represented more than just an MLB suit to Scherzer, however. Young represented the rare GM who had played and played at a high level.

Young pitched for 13 years, including breaking in with his hometown Rangers. He played for Rangers manager Bruce Bochy in San Diego. He won 79 career games and a World Series ring with Kansas City in 2015. Young grew up in Highland Park.

Their conversations, Scherzer said, had a different feel than his conversations with previous GMs.

“Having your GM be a former player, so when you do have conversations with the GM, it was just ... I love (Nationals GM) Mike Rizzo, I love all the GMs I played for,” Scherzer said. “But when it’s a former player, there's just a different feel to it, what he brings to the table, and I really liked it.”

The three-time Cy Young winner joined the Rangers at the trade deadline and helped their push to the franchise’s first World Series title and the second of Scherzer’s career. He went 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA in the regular season with Texas but missed the final three weeks with a strained teres major in his shoulder.

He was able to rehab quickly enough to be a part of the Rangers’ rotation in the AL Championship Series and the World Series.

Scherzer appreciated Young and the Rangers support staff showing a commitment to gathering information from analytics but not allowing it to make every decision.

“He does a great job of taking analytics where they need (to be), but it's really old school, you know, we're going to keep it real — use our eyes, use our feel, use the human element,” Scherzer said.

Scherzer is under contract with the Rangers next season and is part of a returning rotation that includes Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning, and Cody Bradford. There is also a chance that Jacob deGrom, who is working back from UCL surgery, could pitch at some point in 2024.

Texas Rangers Stocking Stuffers!

You can find Matthew Postins on X @PostinsPostcard.

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and X.