I am certain no one is surprised that Dontrelle Willis is counted among this season's near certain disaster picks. It has been a few years since he was even worth drafting. He was once one of my favorite pitchers in baseball and in fact I still like him and root for him. But he will not anywhere near my fantasy teams.It's hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong for Willis. His velocity is down at times which is certainly a problem but he still flashes low 90's with his fastball at times. He is certainly no longer deceptive which makes his jerky mechanics even more of a problem (as they are hard to repeat and stay consistent with). The Tigers experimented with changing his mechanics altogether but halfway through spring training, Willis has abandoned the new motion and returned to his old form.
I believe it is very possible that Willis has an injury that he is either not revealing (for some stupid reason) or just plain has not discovered yet. If I ran the Tigers I would be putting him through all the full body scans medical technology have to offer. I would consult with independent pitching coaches about his deception problems and whether he is somehow tipping his pitches.
In any case, until the source of his troubles is found and addressed Willis cannot be drafted.
The Dontrelle Willis Problem
Pitching Coach Advises Willis
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