Rankings/List

There's something about pitchers and weird mannerisms. More than any other player on the diamond, they are under the microscope. So perhaps it's that, as fans, we always notice when they do strange or quirky things.

Intense glares, odd celebrations, funny windups and goofy dugout antics are some of the behaviors that crop up on this list of MLB's eight weirdest pitching mannerisms.

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2010 was dubbed the "Year of the Rookie" after many top tier prospects entered the big leagues.  Jason Heyward and Neftali Feliz were among those to make it to the show on Opening Day, but a wave of impact players took a little time to join them.

Among the superstar midseason replacements were Buster Posey, Mike Stanton, Danny Valencia, and Starlin Castro.  Even Evan Longoria had to wait to make the bigs until May.  These cornerstone players are now on their way to superstar status.

I promise you that this article isn't going to be one of those that simply reminisces about glory days and laments the passing of the 'good old days' when a postage stamp was 10 cents and outfielders shared baseball mitts.

Look, a lot of positive changes have occurred that have helped to improve the enjoyment of the game of baseball. But I must admit that some of the changes do have me occasionally longing for things I miss about the game.

While players, such as Seattle's Felix Hernandez, will tell you that they make the best of their situation and do what they can to help their team win, there's no doubting one thing.

They hate losing.

This is why they're in a competitive sport. They're driven to excel in their personal game and assist in the collective goal of winning a championship.

Throughout the decades, we've seen some of the greats athletes of our lifetime fail to ride a float in a parade through the downtown area of their home town.

The Orioles kicked off their 2011 campaign in style, sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays, and then taking two of three games from the projected 2011 A.L. Central champion Tigers.

Monday night Aroldis Chapman reached back and threw a pitch to Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates. The pitch wound up being high and tight, not a location necessarily to be proud of, and yet he received a standing ovation.

Why the standing ovation, you may ask? The stadium radar reading displayed a velocity of 106 MPH, a speed that has only been topped twice since baseball started recording pitch velocities.

So who else goes down in history for having a rocket for an arm?

Every baseball season, at least a few "name" players switch teams via trade.

These players are known to even the most casual of fans because they have appeared in All-Star Games and competed for major awards in the past.

At the time of the trade, their level of skill can fall into any number of categories.  

Many are former stars and heroes who now find themselves in the fading light of their careers; still in search of that elusive World Series ring. Lance Berkman and Kerry Wood were dealt separately to the Yankees last year in an attempt to reach that goal.

Many debate the best pitchers in Major League Baseball. Some believe that wins are the most important stat (you'll get more run support playing for the Rangers than the Mariners), while others believe ERA or WHIP are the most important stats in determining the best pitchers in the MLB.

I believe that many things go in account when deciding the great pitchers in the league. These include wins, strikeouts, ERA, WHIP and most importantly, providing your team with a great outing when they need it most.

We are close to three weeks into the season, and few things are going as expected. Some teams have players that are surprising, and other teams are simply outperforming their expectations.

Its a long season, and things change, but some of these surprises are legitimate, and have some staying power. Cleveland may not necessarily be in for a major losing streak, and the Red Sox may not be the 100-win team people were expecting.

Some reasonably available players to assist you in the strikeouts category. Realize that some of these will come with high ERAs and WHIPs because if a pitcher has low numbers in those categories and a good K total, they’re already spoken for.