Dontrelle Willis remains a mystery

Detroit -- The story of Dontrelle Willis is becoming less of a sports narrative and more of a documentary.

It's also a mystery.

Rarely do people ask about him, or talk about him. An informal poll taken early this week proved that no one I knew had a clue as to where the Tigers left-hander was, or what he was doing.

He returned to the disabled list June 15 because of anxiety disorder, which wasn't the kind of diagnosis that would have put a man on the DL back in baseball's era of tobacco juice and wool uniforms, or even in the days of double-knits.

It's the second time this season that he has been shelved because of a medical issue that Willis said (and the Tigers never disputed) was diagnosed in March by way of a blood test.

Psychiatrists at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak all said then that there was no way you could detect an anxiety issue by way of blood work. But doctors treating Willis had their own analysis, and that diagnosis was accepted by Commissioner Bud Selig's office, which signs off on such petitions before the player can be placed on the DL.

Down on the farm

The update on Willis as of Wednesday was this, as provided by Dave Dombrowski, the Tigers president and general manager:

Willis is working out at Triple-A Toledo, pitching on the side and in simulated games against Mud Hens batters.

He's taking care of "off-field things" at other venues. Those issues are presumably medical in nature. Although it's not the kind of information Dombrowski is allowed to share, a reasonable interpretation as to why Willis is pitching in Toledo, and not in Lakeland, Fla., at the Tigertown complex, is that Toledo allows him to more easily meet with Detroit-area doctors.

The ongoing implication is that anxiety is the reason Willis has had such a miserable time the past two seasons throwing strikes. He walked eight batters in 3 2/3 innings in his last start, June 14, at Pittsburgh and later that week headed back to the DL.

Is this the simple explanation for a pitching career that seems to have disintegrated for a man who is only 27 years old? If so, when did it begin? Willis was beginning to have problems with the strike zone even before he came to Detroit in the dynamite trade with Florida in December of 2007.

Do his unorthodox mechanics, which can be seen vividly in his funky delivery, have anything to do with his control issues? Or, is it all a matter of medicine?

They are questions that will linger no matter how long Willis stays on the DL. And for all anyone knows, that will be a while. Dombrowski offered no timelines Wednesday for Willis' recovery or potential return.

Strange situation

He conceded that "this type of situation is unusual" but that neither he nor Major League Baseball is new to the world of medical or psychological challenges. Steve Blass, Jim Eisenreich, Steve Sax, Mackey Sasser -- there have been differing degrees of psychological barriers and trauma that have racked players the past 40 years.

"You find more compassion and more understanding," Dombrowski said of baseball in 2009, and how the game today listens more carefully to experts in medicine and social science.

He explained that the Tigers had to provide specific details of Willis' condition and diagnosis to Selig's office. What he could not say Wednesday was when, or if, Willis will be back. Or whether the $10 million salary Willis is owed in 2009 and the $12 million he has coming in 2010 will be 50-percent covered by insurance, as is often the case for players on Willis' level.

Or, more to the point, whether Willis will ever pitch again in the big leagues. The doctors can provide a diagnosis. Predicting the future isn't their specialty.

lynn.henning@detnews.com">lynn.henning@detnews.com