Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Fewer and fewer over the last 20 years.
It used to be that you threw hard maybe every second or third pitch. And a good fastball was maybe 92 mph. And starters would throw 10 or more complete games a year.
Now they throw it hard basically every pitch. And 95 is common, with every team having multiple guys that can throw it 98-100. And complete games almost never happen.
They simply can't throw as many pitches.
Plus, the long term damage to arms is more understood now.
Hockey is the same in the sense that everything is done at full speed now. The game is faster, and thus harder on the body. Plus, they better understand the need to manage it.
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I would put it slightly differently. The data has borne out that a fresh arm of a slightly inferior pitcher is more effective than the tired arm of a superior pitcher.
And IMO that's the difference with hockey. I do not believe that fresher Vladar in this case is a better goalie than a slightly fatigued Markstrom.
And I don't believe that fatigue carries over from game to game all that much. If you want to use the baseball analogy, starters don't usually skip their spot in the rotation over a long season as long as they are healthy.
It's just a different set of facts entirely really compared to the repetitive motion of throwing a baseball. I would argue the mental aspect is really what needs to be focused on and how that is managed through practice etc.