I was doing a little image searching when I stumbled upon the following picture from USA Today:
That is one hell of a bizarre delivery. For the sake of comparison, compare that picture to one of Mark Prior, who's generally thought to have real solid, fluid mechanics (MSNBC):
Problems with Millwood (in no particular order):
- Upper body leaning gloveside, forcing head off driveline to plate
- Lead glove out in front of knee
- Arm incredibly straight, stressing ligaments
- Back foot up well before release, forcing Millwood to generate more energy from his arm and shoulder to compensate for not really pushing off the rubber
- Front leg well short of 90 degrees; it's almost straight, forcing Millwood's shoulder up and altering his release point
It's not just with this one picture, either - having gone over a few Millwood video clips on the MLB.tv archives, this is his consistent delivery. In the words of Will Carroll when discussing Brett Myers: "He's sure pitching well for someone as messed up as this picture looks."