Rangers' Scherzer: 'We need to rank the umpires'

Texas Rangers ace Max Scherzer is proposing a solution to the inconsistent umpiring that continues to plague MLB.

"For me, how I conceptualize how the electronic strike zone should be is we need to rank the umpires," Scherzer told reporters. "Let the electronic strike zone rank the umpires.

"We need to have a conversation about the bottom - let's call it 10%, whatever you want to declare the bottom is - and talk about relegating those umpires to the minor leagues and getting in the best umpires in the game. That way, the umpires are going against themselves."

Scherzer's comments come amid ongoing frustration over inaccurate umpiring around the league.

Akin to demoting a player to the minor leagues in order to hone their skills under less pressure, Scherzer believes a system should exist that helps underachieving umpires improve.

"We want the human element of the game, the human element of the game is good, and we need to keep that in baseball," Scherzer said.

"When I'm out there pitching, if you told me I had the 10th-best umpire, or the 75th-best umpire, you don't really notice too much between them because they're really good at their jobs - the umpires are actually really good - it's really the bottom umpires that we really have a problem with. So if there was a mechanism to make the umpires at the bottom better, I think that would be a better way to address this."

The 39-year-old is working his way back to the majors at Triple-A Round Rock after undergoing surgery for a herniated disc in December. He threw 52 pitches over 2 1/3 innings in his first rehab start Wednesday.

Scherzer is one of baseball's most decorated pitchers. The three-time Cy Young winner has a career 3.15 ERA, and his 3,367 strikeouts place him 11th on the all-time leaderboard.

The Rangers acquired Scherzer in July from the New York Mets for prospect Luisangel Acuña and went on to win the 2023 World Series.