Max Scherzer was blown away by Steve Cohen pitch: ‘Boom, let’s be a Met’

Max Scherzer has an arsenal of pitches that have made him a three-time Cy Young award winner, but it might have been the pitch from the Mets that impressed him more than any other.

“I didn’t think there was a chance in heck I was going to be a Met and then I had a conversation with Steve Cohen, [GM] Billy [Eppler], and all of the sudden my wife and I looked at each other and were like, ‘Woah, the Mets are really doing something here,’ ” Scherzer said on this week’s episode of The Post’s “The Show” podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman. “A couple weeks later, we saw they were making big-time signings and going after everything and there it was — boom, let’s be a Met.”

Scherzer, after spending the second half of the 2021 season with the Dodgers after a long run with the Nationals, last offseason signed a three-year, $130 million contract — for a record annual value of $43.3 million.

“Being in the NL East for so long, you kind of saw some of the problems from the outside, but when you actually got to talk to Steve and Billy and actually understand what was going on, what changes were going to be made — ‘Hey this is where we’re going, these are the guys we got, and we’re here to win, we’re going to do whatever it takes to win, we’re changing the culture here, we’re doing absolutely everything we can, we’re going to sign the right guys, we’re going to build a clubhouse.’ Look at Billy’s history of doing that in Anaheim, when he was there with the Yankees, and you kind of get a feel for what they were doing. It was kind of the complete opposite of what I thought, and it completely changed everything that I was thinking of where the Mets’ direction was going to go.”

Scherzer was sold on a path toward the future. Though the Mets’ season fizzled in the postseason, Scherzer said he loved his first season in Queens.

“I got there and fell in love immediately,” Scherzer said. “Especially with Billy and Buck [Showalter] in charge. I thought they were great in what they were able to do.”

The veteran made it clear the 101-win Mets were a group of “really good dudes” who meshed well with “old-school manager” Showalter.

There are sure to be roster changes this offseason, but Scherzer — who said he’s had conversations with Eppler about the direction of the team — hopes fellow ace Jacob deGrom isn’t one of the changes.

“The way he can go out there and dominate a game. He can flat-out take a game over, so it was awesome to watch, awesome to play with, and hopefully we sign him,” Scherzer said.

He’s confident Eppler — armed with Cohen’s billions — will make a run to keep deGrom.

“I think it’s good anytime you have an ownership that’s absolutely committed to winning, and he’s going to bring in the best players and find a way to compete for a World Series, especially in a big market,” Scherzer said. “That’s fun, being a part of a team that can do that, being a part of an organization that’s going to spare no expense and do things the right way.”