Dontrelle Willis, famous for quirky delivery, announces retirement
Dontrelle Willis’ comeback attempt officially reached the end of the line on Friday. According to Milwaukee Brewers manager Ron Roenicke, the man nicknamed “D-Train” has decided to retire rather than continue pursuing a position on their major league roster.
This is actually the second time the now 33-year-old left-hander has announced his retirement. In July of 2012, he walked away after having a falling out with the Baltimore Orioles organization, but quickly changed his mind and started his comeback attempt the following spring. Three minor league contracts and two Independent League stops later, Willis has been unable to earn a spot in the major leagues, so he walks away again, likely for the final time.
It’s not a glorious exit, but the announcement marks the end of one of the more fascinating and disappointing careers we’ve seen in recent memory.
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At one point, Willis was regarded as the game’s next great left-handed pitcher. With a wacky delivery that was often imitated, rarely duplicated, and likely contributed to his ultimate downfall, Willis took the league by storm as a 21-year-old rookie in 2003. All he did was win Rookie of Year, while helping the Marlins to an unlikely World Series championship. From there, Willis continued to live up to the lofty hype, posting a 46-27 record with a 3.27 ERA over his first three seasons and finishing second in Cy Young voting in 2005.
If there’s a fast track to stardom, Willis was driving it faster than any pitcher we’d seen in a long time. But almost as quickly as he arrived, Willis’ momentum ended as his mechanics and command unraveled.
By the 2007 season, Willis’ effectiveness was all but gone as his ERA mushroomed to 5.17. By 2008, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers. By 2009, he was fighthing for one more chance in the big leagues. He’d end up getting two more brief opportunities — a six-game stint with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010 and 13 starts with the Cincinnati Reds in 2011 — but the magic was gone. Willis never appeared in another major league game.
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Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Kaduk chronicled Willis’ fall from grace in a piece written on July 5, 2010. Almost five years later, the story hasn’t changed a whole lot. It’s just now, Willis is ready to accept what had become obvious to those watching. While there was always something left to prove, there’s just not enough left for his body to give, and that leaves the rest of us wondering what might have been had Dontrelle Willis been able to harness his remarkable talents, his unique mechanics and his emotion just a little bit longer.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
