The Ever-growing Number of Pitchers who begin their deliveries with a traditional wind-up include Doug Fister (Tigers); Kevin Correia (Pirates); Cole Hamels (Phillies); Ubaldo Jimenez (Indians); Ervin Santana (Angels); Brandon Morrow and Ricky Romero (Blue Jays); Derek Holland (Rangers); Matt Moore (Rays); Max Scherzer (Tigers); John Lackey (Red Sox); Ted Lilly (Dodgers); Jake Peavy (White Sox); Derek Lowe and Jair Jurrjens (Braves); Jake Westbrook (Cardinals); Luke Hochevar (Royals), and Michael Pineda (Mariners).

In the 2006 World Series, Adam Wainwright, Jeff Suppan, and Anthony Reyes of the St. Louis Cardinals were impressive on the mound using the traditional style of winding up. Many pitchers from the Far East and Latin America begin their deliveries with a bigger type of wind-up. Halladay, Kennedy, Fister, and many of the above pitchers remind us of Jim Palmer and Don Drysdale who both had superb rhythm, flow and deception.

Jake Peavy, White Sox A fluid and deceptive pitching motion is shown above by Peavy. Gripping the ball in his glove, Jeff lifts his hands and arms above the head with a relaxed movment. He pushes hard off the rubber in putting maximum energy and deception into his pitches. The Padres' brilliant right-hander makes it very difficult for hitters to follow his pitches.

Many of baseball’s most successful pitchers now begin their deliveries with a traditional wind-up. All have big motions, long arm actions, and deceptive wind-ups. Many other major league pitchers have returned to the full wind-up, giving the hips and their shoulders more freedom of movement. They believe the full wind-up is more deceptive because they can hide the ball longer. That makes it more difficult for hitters to pick it up. They include, from left to right: Brandon Morrow (Blue Jays); Cole Hamels (Phillies); Ian Kennedy (Diamondbacks); and Michael Pineda (Mariners) .

In the 1956 World Series, the Yankees’ Don Larsen went to a no-windup and threw a perfect game. Following his mound gem, Larsen only used the no-windup for a short time and went back to the traditional wind-up, as pictured below. By the mid-1960s, however, an increasing number of major league pitchers had gone to the no-wind-up delivery. Without a smooth and rhythmic wind-up, pitchers are placing undue strain on their vulnerable elbows and shoulders, and they are not hiding the ball in their deliveries. As major league teams continue to lose their high-priced pitchers with elbow and shoulder injuries, the return of the traditional wind-up will save teams millions of dollars. College Pitchers Also Using the Traditional Style The traditional pitching wind-up has also returned to collegiate baseball. Several pitchers in the 2007 CWS used the bigger wind-up, including Oregon State’s MVP, freshman right-hander Jorge Reyes, who brought his hands, glove and ball high above and behind his head. Reyes, pictured here, won both of his starts at Omaha and had a 2.92 ERA. Oregon southpaw pitcher Christian Jones is among a growing number of college pitchers using the full, traditional wind-up. Jones, pictured here, struck out a career high 12 hitters in 7 innings against Saint Mary’s early in the season. College baseball coaches, however, appear to be slower in bringing back the traditional pitching wind-up, as I observed watching the 2009 NCAA Division I post-season and CWS finals. I am inclined to think that college and high school pitchers will soon be emulating the bigger wind-up of mound standouts at the big league level, like Halladay, Wainwright, Hamels, Holland, and many others. BPA's Survey of The Two Wind-up Styles During the 2006 spring training, questionnaires were sent to all major league pitching coaches. Almost half of the 30 coaches I contacted responded with many positive comments and opinions. The coaches were aware that an increasing number of pitchers, including many from other countries, are using various styles of the traditional windup. They saw many hurlers in the World Baseball Classic pitching with the old time wind-up. The hands and glove come up over the head. Using the no-windup, the pitcher holds his hands in a compact position in front of the body, and he starts his delivery. Many of the major league pitching coaches I wrote to believe there will be many more pitchers switching to a bigger and more traditional technique. They said they will be encouraging more pitchers to make the change. Back in the 1960s and ‘70s, it took awhile for the no-windup to take hold, and the return of the traditional method, likewise, will require time as well.

Pitching Deliveries of Mound Greats

Standing square to home plate, Sandy raises his hands to a position above and behind his head as he places his pivot foot parallel to the rubber. With a fairly high leg kick, Koufax has excellent lead leg action as he moves slightly toward home plate. He is an overhand pitcher who keeps his weight back. With a high elbow, his pitching arm is completely extended upward. Observe his forward wrist as the arm pulls the upper body down. Juan Marichal, San Francisco Giants Swinging both arms backward, Juan goes into a rocking motion, bringing both arms high above and to the side of his head. Marichal begins rotating his hips to the right. His pivot foot is turned parallel to the rubber as he starts his famous leg kick. His left leg is swung high into the air and out to the side. He bends his leg up into a high arc. The remarkable feature of Marichal's lift is that he does not tilt his body backward to a large extent, nor does he drop his back shoulder noticeably. By keeping his body in a vertical plane, he has excellent balance. Don Sutton, Los Angeles Dodgers Sutton takes a balanced and relaxed stance, square to the plate. He stands with his heels on the rubber with the toes touching the ground in front of the rubber. As the hands come up and over his head, Don steps back with his left foot. He then shifts his weight forward as he rotates into the pitch. His first movement is a rocker step, a soft and short step backward at a 45-degree angle with the non-stride foot. This will shift his weight onto the back foot so that he can pivot his front foot and drop it in front and parallel to the rubber. It is a small step back with the free foot that allows the head to stay over the pivot foot. As he steps back, Sutton raises both arms above the head. Tom Seaver, New York Mets When winding up, Seaver's hands and arms are over his head. The ball is hidden in the web of his glove. Tom used a no-pump wind-up because as he explains, "It takes unnecessary movement out of my pitching, and it provides me with greater control. The key point here in getting through is the turning of the hips and resting on that right leg. I wanted to keep my weight forward so that I can pivot on top of my power foot, the right foot. While many pitchers during their careers started using a no-wind-up delivery, Tom told me in 1984 that "A no-wind-up motion didn't work for me because from a timing standpoint, I couldn't coordinate all the parts of my body in such a short time." Billy Pierce, Chicago White Sox The stylish left-hand pitcher superbly demonstrates the wind-up technique used by pitchers until the no-wind-up emerged. Pierce brings his glove and ball to a position above his head, giving him free body movement. He raises his hands and lead leg simultaneously, which helps keep his weight back and reduces the chances of rushing. Billy kicks his striding leg out toward the plate and uses a powerful thrust-off from the rubber. How the No-Wind-up Technique Began The change that took place during the mid-1950s was the result of suggestions Yankee pitching coach Jim Turner made to Don Larsen and Bob Turley. Bob credits Turner with launching their no-wind-up of pitching. The no-wind-up was believed to help a pitcher's control, in part because Larsen went to it and threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. "Jim did it with both of us, but for different reasons," said Turley. "Teams were stealing Don's pitches. To stop it, Turner suggested he hold the ball in his glove in front, and keep it there, with no-wind-up." Following his mound gem, Larsen used the no-wind-up for a short period of time and went back to the traditional wind-up. His won-lost record for the remaining 10 years of his career with five teams was 51-51. Turley had similar success after impressive seasons in 1957 (13-6) and 1958 (21-7), compiling a 25-29 won lost record in five seasons. By the mid-1960s, an increasing number of major league pitchers were using the no-wind-up delivery. Billy Muffett, the Cardinals pitching coach who used a no-windup during his entire career, induced several St. Louis pitchers to employ the technique. Among the pitchers whose deliveries Billy altered were Dick Hughes, Nelson Briles, Ron Willis, and Steve Carlton. All had banner years until 1968 when a major change in the rules dictated that the pitching mound be lowered. The dropping of the mound, from 15 inches to 10 inches, made it more difficult for Briles, and others, to throw "over the top" with his key out-pitch, the curveball. Because of the lower pitching mound, many of them, like Briles, found it more difficult to get a good push-off off the lower mound. Of even much greater significance to the game of baseball, the lower pitching mound has been responsible for countless arm and shoulder injuries, and of course, the overall effectiveness of pitchers. Briles said later, "It was my idea to go back to the full-wind-up. I think it gave me more momentum. I found it was easier on my arm and shoulder." Pitchers today using the traditional wind-up can be more effective, too. Chien Ming Wang is an excellent example as to the importance of being able to pitch from his "long and slow" wind-up delivery. Throughout Wang's career, opponent's batting average with nobody on base is .249. Once he gets a runner on base and has to pitch from the stretch position and shorten his delivery, his opponents batting percentage is .296. While it has achieved better control, today's no-wind-up delivery may have contributed to the current epidemic of elbow and shoulder injuries. Darren Dreifort is typical of the many pitchers who use a no-wind-up delivery and have had many arm and shoulder injuries. Darren's hands and arms are so close to the body, a very tight, compact position. I firmly believe many of the injuries could have been prevented or sharply reduced if he and others had used the traditional pitching wind-up and given the hips and shoulders more freedom of movement. The time is long overdue for pitchers at all levels of play to return to a fuller wind-up, as a growing number of major league pitchers are now doing. Photographs by Christopher Pasatieri, Getty Images (Halladay); Los Angeles Dodgers (Drysdale); Michael Heape (Wainwright); Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images (Lewis); Matt Slocum, Associated Press (Hamels); J. Meric, Getty Images (Scherzer); Robert Beck (Peavy); Reuters (Morrow); Norm Hall, Getty Images (Kennedy); Otto Greule, Jr., Getty Images (Pineda); Tony Gutierrez (Holland); University of Oregon (Jones); and Oregon State (Reyes). Sequence series photographs by Don Weiskopf (Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal, Don Sutton, Tom Seaver, and Billy Pierce; and Associated Press (Don Larsen).