The Gradual Decline and Sudden Collapse of Dontrelle Willis
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Friday, June 20, 2008 | By Alex Eisenberg
“Those may be the worst front side mechanics I have ever seen” – Orel
Hershiser, June 9, 2008
Hershiser is referring to this:
Of course, mechanical issues are nothing new for Dontrelle Willis. Just look at
this article by Carlos Gomez last year, which detailed the gradual changes in
Willis’ mechanics going all the way back to 2005. Here is the graphic he used
from that article:
Willis-temp-comp
Over time, Willis’ mechanics have become slower and less chaotic. Over the
same time period, Willis’ K-rate has declined along with his velocity.
As Gomez explains in his article:
“…pitching coaches tend to slow pitchers down who are considered to be "too
fast." In Willis' case, it isn't that he was too fast. It is that he was
considered to be out of control.”
However, his “out of control” mechanics gave him much of his success. They
provided Willis with deception, helped play up his breaking ball, allowed him
to throw with velocity and he was obviously able to coordinate all the
movements because his control was pretty good and he was a pitcher that
regularly made mechanical tweaks.
Pitching should be a natural act. A pitcher must have precise efficiency with
their mechanics as even the tiniest inefficiency can drop a pitch’s velocity
from 93 to 89 mph. Creating this efficiency is hard enough. But Willis had to
remaster the efficiency and timing he had in his previous delivery to his
newer, more controlled delivery. So let's add it up:
1. New delivery
2. New delivery lessens the quality of his stuff
3. Trying too hard to learn the particulars of his new mechanics -- begins
overthinking
When you have these three factors, the potential to have things snowball on
you is high and this is exactly what happened to Willis this year.
My theory is when Willis focused on some of the different aspects of his
mechanics, he unintentionally added another component to his delivery, which
exacerbated the problems he already had:
So what do we make of his latest mechanical issue? This mechanical problem is
related to his front side mechanics. Hershiser adheres to the Tom House
mechanical school of thought and one thing House preaches is to maintain a
firm glove out in front of the pitcher’s chest.
A pitcher should firm up the glove to prevent the front shoulder from opening.
Not only does it help the pitcher maintain a consistent release point, but it
can help improve a pitcher’s breaking ball, while also reducing stress on the
pitcher’s shoulder.
Instead of tucking the glove into your side, the pitcher should leave the glove
out in front of the chest and bring the chest to the glove. The benefits of
this is to get better extension out in front, allowing the pitcher to release
the ball just a little bit closer to home plate, increasing the perceived
velocity of a pitch, while giving the arm more room to decelerate.
Willis never had the best front side mechanics, but they weren't anywhere
near as bad as they are now. Compare Willis from 2005 (right) to now (left):
Dontrelle-WillisWillis-ideal
You can see a littany of changes between the two different wind-ups above, but
focus on the frame where the graphics pause and compare the positions of their
gloves. With that you can see a big reason for Willis' terrible control this
year.
What to Do
The fall of Willis is pretty mind boggling and admittedly difficult to watch.
If he is to get back to being the pitcher he once was, here are some things to
try:
1. Get in shape - this is the easiest thing for Willis to do. Getting back in
shape and improving his overall athleticism will make it easier for him to
make any needed adjustments to his mechanics
2. Gradually alter his mechanics with the goal of him getting back to his 2005
levels. You don't want to overhaul his mechanics to where he is overthinking
everything. Small changes over time will do.
3. The last and most important change is the need to get Willis to stop
thinking and start throwing. Just go out there, let it fly, get moving, don't
worry about staying back, and don't worry about your mechanics.
There should be no worries about making changes to Willis' mechanics since
there is really nothing he can do to make things worse. But one thing is for
sure: changing what made Willis successful is not the right way to go.
--
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