Parkway Central grad and University of Missouri product Max Scherzer was called up by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.

“It definitely caught me by surprise,” Scherzer told MLB.com.

The righthanded pitcher was the 11th overall pick in the 2006 draft following his junior season at Mizzou and signed with the D-backs 11 months later.

Scherzer pitched at Class A Visalia and Double-A Mobile last year and was dominating at Triple-A Tucson this season. He had a 1.17 ERA and 38 strikeouts (against just three walks) in 23 innings. He was rated by Baseball America as the fourth-best prospect in the D-backs organization.

The 23-year-old Parkway Central graduate features a fastball in the mid 90s that can touch 97, but he’s worked at developing his change-up and slider as complimentary pitches so hitters can’t sit on his fastball.

Scherzer was a starter at Tucson, but will work out of the bullpen for now with the Diamondbacks.

“For me, It’s a quick change,” Scherzer told the website. “It doesn’t take a lot for me to go back and forth. If my ticket is in the bullpen, then I can do that. For me, it’s just pitching; it’s a little different style of pitching, but it’s still pitching, so the same principles still apply.”

Going forward, Scherzer could be a fixture in the D-backs’ rotation.

“In the long term, I think with any pitcher we would sort of give starting every opportunity to be successful,” Arizona general manager Josh Byrnes told MLB.com. “He’s responded. He’s really done quite nicely. We’ve gotten him through the system in Double-A and in Triple-A and even in Spring Training. We’re optimistic that he can be a quality Major League starter, and probably prefer that that’s the focus at this point.”

The Diamondbacks’ future is bright, with a pair of aces in Brandon Webb and Dan Haren to go along with a core of young position players like outfielders Justin Upton and Chris Young and first baseman Conor Jackson, shortstop Stephen Drew and third baseman Mark Reynolds.