Boys will be boys, so the day after Johnny Cueto pitches, Cincinnati Reds relievers have been known to emulate his motion during idle moments in the bullpen or the outfield. They're usually well-rested after Cueto's outings, anyway. And in the absence of sprouting dreadlocks in his honor, copying his delivery is the sincerest form of flattery they can muster.

The frivolity rarely lasts long. Professional pitchers are taught that the more compact the windup and the less wasted movement, the better. Tim Lincecum is one of a kind, Clayton Kershaw unfolds in stages and Max Scherzer invited skepticism for his herky-jerky delivery early in his pro career. But the landscape is generally replete with pitchers who try to keep things simple in the quest to throw consistently on a downhill plane.

Pitchers are told that it's imperative to be able to repeat their deliveries. Then along comes Cueto, whose motion is unrepeatable and borderline indescribable. It's best filed under the category of, "Kids, please don't try this at home."

Johnny Cueto first began using his current delivery in the spring of 2010. AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps

"I've messed around with it in the bullpen," said Reds reliever Sam LeCure, "but it's tough to keep your balance the way he does. If you're not used to it, it can get you out of whack a little bit. I'll try it once or twice and I'll say, 'There's no way I could revamp my mechanics to do that.'"

Cueto -- contortionist, master corner painter and early National League Cy Young Award candidate -- is making waves primarily because of what happens after the ball leaves his hand. Even after getting knocked around by Washington in his most recent outing, he leads big league starters in strikeouts (82), WHIP (0.74) and WAR (2.8) and is third in the league in ERA (1.86) behind Jeff Samardzija and Adam Wainwright. With his next start on tap Monday at Dodger Stadium, he's flourishing despite pitching half his games in a hitter-happy venue at Great American Ball Park.

Ask the people who watch Cueto every day, and they'll tell you his success is the product of surprising athleticism, an ability to dot the corners with five pitches (fastball, slider, curveball, cutter and change) and a knack for stifling the running game more efficiently than any pitcher in the majors.

But Cueto is also a self-improvement buff who has spent years refining a delivery that seemed awkward at first, then grew comfortable and is now a major part of his identity. His offbeat motion has placed him in a small fraternity with Luis Tiant, Fernando Valenzuela, Hideo Nomo and Nuke LaLoosh among pitchers who bring old-time entertainment value to the proceedings and aren't averse to taking some detours on their way to the finish line. The results are a gratifying payoff to all the time and sweat Cueto invested in refining his new claim to fame.

"Let me tell you this: It wasn't easy to start doing it," Cueto said through interpreter Tomas Vera. "It took me a lot of work. I got criticized and my knee used to hurt at the beginning. But now I've got it."

All about timing

After beginning his windup, Cueto elevates his left leg into a high tuck, then rotates his torso until he's facing left-center field and the batter sees the No. 47. (To watch Cueto's delivery in slow motion, click here.) Upon reaching the apex of his delivery, he uncoils and comes at hitters as a 5-foot-11, 215-pound man of mystery. In the process, he strips hitters of the timing mechanism they typically rely upon before springing into action.

"As a hitter, it's key to know when you're going to load based on when you think the ball is coming. With guys like that, you try to do it in the on-deck circle," said Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg, who has experience at this sort of thing from his days as a 10-time All-Star and budding Hall of Famer with the Cubs. Sandberg hit a career .294 (20-for-68) against Valenzuela and .300 (6-for-20) against Gene Garber, another pitcher who liked to do the twist, so his attention to detail paid dividends.

Cueto's delivery is a challenge for his battery mate as well. Brayan Pena, who has emerged as Cueto's primary catcher in his first season with the Reds, did several days of reconnaissance work from a squatting position in spring training before deciphering the best way to spot the ball as it left Cueto's hand. He refrains from sharing his insights out of fear that he'll provide aid and comfort to opposing hitters.

Pena was asked if this is a variation on the old "If I told you, I'd have to kill you" joke.

"No, not me," Pena said with a laugh. "If I told you, Johnny would kill both of us."

The genesis for Cueto's revamp came in the spring of 2010, after he had gone 11-11 with a 4.41 ERA for the Reds. He had a habit of spinning off the mound and flying open with his left side so that his hip turned toward first base like a swinging gate. As a result, his arm dragged and he threw a lot of what Cincinnati manager Bryan Price calls "empty pitches." Price, then in his first year as Reds pitching coach, urged Cueto to incorporate a bigger hip turn into his motion to keep his front side closed, and he had a receptive pupil.

"I'm a person who always likes to try new things," Cueto said. "There are a lot of veteran hitters in the game who know how to pick up what kind of pitch you're going to throw, so you have to make adjustments to avoid that. It was a way to hide [the ball] and give them less time to pick from my glove what I was trying to throw."

Cueto's experimentation began in the visiting bullpen at Sun Life Stadium in Miami in the spring of 2010, at which point he felt comfortable enough to take his new approach into a game. The plan quickly changed when he lost his balance in an early start, over-rotated and still recovered to throw a strike. The sequence sent a murmur through the crowd and planted a seed in Cueto's mind.

"He came to the bullpen between starts and said, 'I think this may make it hard for hitters to see my ball,'" Price said. "He wanted to try it and see if he could be efficient with it, and I told him, 'There have to be certain principles and disciplines that go with it.' We've had to do a few things to modify it to where it wasn't a counterproductive delivery."

Cueto made his biggest headlines in 2010 by laying a karate kick on St. Louis catcher Jason LaRue during a bench-clearing brawl, but his ERA fell from 4.41 to 3.64 and his strikeout-to-walk ratio improved as he gradually began to master his new toy. He finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award balloting in 2012, and he has taken his game to another level through his first 10 starts this season.

What makes the delivery work?

These four things certainly help:

(1) Cueto initially threw with his right foot parallel to the rubber, but the stress on his knee from all that twisting with his upper half necessitated some changes for the sake of his health. He spent a lot of time experimenting with the position of his right foot, and now his heel is angled to the rubber when he begins his windup.

(2) It's imperative for any pitcher to focus on the target before he begins his delivery to home plate. For a while Cueto had problems keeping his head still and it would drift toward his right shoulder, but with time he has become conditioned to keeping his chin tucked inside his left shoulder. When his body turns, his eyes are instantly locked in on the catcher's mitt.