Lincecum easing into his windup

Henry Schulman - San Francisco Chronicle

Tim Lincecum threw full-speed batting practice to hitters for the first time this spring, and there was a noticeable difference in his delivery. He was not twisting his body toward second base as radically. Even so, his fastball still had plenty of zip and attracted a lot of weak swings.

Did the Giants ask Lincecum to shorten his unique windup? That would be big news.

No, he said, nothing has changed. He was concentrating on other parts of his mechanics the first time out, namely his leg position and command.

"I'm going to start taking my windup a little more back," Lincecum said. "Going into the season, I'm sure I'm going to get back to it, going full bore. Today was just getting a feel for it and seeing the batters."

Lincecum's throwing motion creates a lot of debate. On one hand, it adds to his deception and the force behind his pitches. But it also puts a lot of torque on his right leg. The right-hander has had tendinitis in the knee since college and ices it after he throws. Some Lincecum watchers fear his motion ultimately could hurt his arm, although there has been no evidence of that thus far.

Lincecum acknowledged the issue, saying his father, who devised his delivery, has suggested he curtail "the Luis Tiant thing," referring to the 19-year major-leaguer who turned toward second base to begin his windup. The Giants, he said, "haven't tried to make any adjustments at all. They've pretty much let me do my thing."

Manager Bruce Bochy said the brass has talked about whether to shorten Lincecum's delivery, but under the theory that you should not tinker with something that works, Bochy said, "We're not going to change it now."

Snow's tutelage: Daniel Ortmeier is not the only novice first baseman working with special instructor J.T. Snow. Later this spring, on his second visit to camp, Snow expects to work at the minor-league camp with 17-year-old Angel Villalona, the $2 million bonus baby from the Dominican Republic. He was signed as a third baseman, but as he has grown, the organization has become convinced his body is better suited for first base.

"He has good hands for a 17-year-old kid," said Snow, who had to teach Villalona everything about the position from scratch. Snow expects Villalona to pick up the techniques because there are many similarities between playing third base and first. Snow also watched Villalona bat and said, "I've never seen a 17-year-old kid hit the ball like that. Very impressive."

Briefly: The players are enduring longer workouts than in past years because Bochy and his staff are spending more time on instruction than they did with older teams. Toward the end of Wednesday's workout, one player said, "I feel like I'm in mile 25 of a marathon," and that was one of the younger guys. ... Dave Roberts, Rajai Davis, Kevin Frandsen and Fred Lewis were on the field at 8:30 a.m., before the regular workout, participating in what could become daily bunting practice with coach Tim Flannery. ... Barry Bonds will be on the cover of the 2008 media guide, sort of. He is part of a photo montage of notable Giants over the years marking the 50th anniversary of the move to San Francisco.