Max Scherzer perspective:
http://www.espn.com/blog/washi...k-like-an-8-year-old
"Year-round throwing works for me," Scherzer says. "That’s what I did when I was 8 years old, and my arm never hurt."
Wait, what? In an uber-alarmist age when pitch counts are paramount, when complete-game shutouts have been replaced by complete winter shutdowns, when the most talked-about hurler in baseball is Tommy John, the key to success is ... just keep throwing?
Whenever I shut down my arm, whenever I actually stop throwing, that's when my arm hurts the most," Scherzer says. "Everything just doesn't feel good, so I literally throw year-round."
That wasn’t always Mad Max’s M.O. His first few years in the big leagues, he did what all the cool kids did, going dark from October until January. But inevitably, when he powered up his power arm again, it would bark louder than a German shepherd in a thunderstorm.
"My shoulder just hurt too much to get through it," says Scherzer, a first-round pick of the Diamondbacks in 2006 who was traded to the Tigers following the 2009 season. "Specifically, the biceps tendon. It just took forever, all the way through spring training. By the time the season started, it would finally feel good."
So a couple years into his tenure with Detroit, he flipped the script. Now, instead of holstering his hose for three months, he just keeps right on throwing. From the moment the season ends, all the way through the end of the year and beyond, he throws at least twice a week. We’re not talking about pitching off a mound and pumping 95 mph heaters into a catcher’s mitt. Instead, Scherzer just plays catch. Ya know, like an 8-year-old would. And in true kid fashion, he couldn’t care less who he’s throwing to, just so long as he’s throwing to someone.