Zito's Mechanics

Diary writer jagsbball41 over at John Sickel's Minor League Baseball has an entry on a self-induced change in Barry Zito's pitching motion. His info was gleaned from espn.com. The change has his pitching coach sounding a little nervous,

"He's gone from one extreme to another from a pitching standpoint," (Dave) Righetti said after San Francisco's pitchers and catchers finished their initial workout. "His ball flight is going to be different, no doubt about it."

Initial fears are that his new delivery will cut down on the break of his classic 12 to 6 curveball and also wear down his body quicker. Conversely, the consensus in the thread is that Zito has tweaked his delivery from time to time during his career and that he's never suffered from those changes.