Arizona rookie Max Scherzer was sensational in his major league debut a week ago, working 4.1 perfect innings in relief with seven strikeouts. It was an outing that generated media attention and great expectations for his first big league start Monday night.

The 23-year-old right-hander didn’t fare as well against the Phillies Monday, but you can be sure the heady University of Missouri product learned something from it. In an interview with this writer, three days before he was called up, Scherzer repeatedly discussed his baseball experiences in terms of what he learned from them. As a pitcher, he’s a lot more than a guy who throws hard.

Scherzer gets it to the plate in the mid-90s, but he knows pitching is more than power stuff. He’s worked hard on his secondary pitches, and during our chat before a Triple-A game in Tucson, he repeatedly emphasized the importance of throwing first-pitch strikes and getting ahead of hitters.

“You have to throw a strike 65 percent of the time on the first pitch,” Scherzer said. “Seventy-five-80 percent of the time you need to work ahead of hitters.” Thanks to Tony Vitello, his pitching coach at Missouri, Scherzer has made getting ahead of hitters a far more important tenet than throwing the ball by hitters.

With better secondary pitches this spring, which have aided him in working ahead in the count, Scherzer posted a 1.17 ERA in four starts for Tucson. In 23 innings, he allowed just 12 hits and three walks, and fanned 38.

Then Scherzer went out and proved the value of throwing strikes in his debut. In those 4.1 perfect innings against Houston, he threw 35 of his 47 pitches for strikes. It wasn’t lost on the hard-throwing rookie that the ageless Jamie Moyer was the teacher on Monday night.

“He rope-a-dopes you to death,” Scherzer said after the game. “I know firsthand, he throws a 74-mile-an-hour change, then backs it up with a 71-mile-an-hour change. He’s cutting it to both sides of the plate at 81 or 82, and his fastball’s about the same velocity, but he knows how to pitch. Been doing it a while.”

The full story on Max Scherzer and his approach to pitching will appear in this Friday’s edition of “Thom’s Take.” To see it and track other fantasy news each week, subscribe to STATS Fantasy Advantage. SFA offers 2008 player projections, latest player injury info, team depth charts and “Thom’s Take,” all for the reasonable price of $19.95 for the entire season. Find out more or sign up at stats.com.