I've always thought pitchers with complicated wind-ups had a shorter shelf life in general. When there's that many moving parts, when something goes wrong or gets out of whack it's tough to pin down exactly what is wrong. This leads to constant tweaks that effect performance. Look at Tim Lincecum, Dontrelle Willis, etc. Crazy wind ups and when the bottom fell out, they were effectively done for. On the flip side, guys like Nolan Ryan and Greg Maddux had simple mechanics, and they were able to pitch for a long time, remain largely injury-free and be consistently effective throughout their careers.
|