San Francisco Giants’ Tim Lincecum flashing previous Cy Young form
By Tim Haberin
San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum has posted a dazzling 2.00 ERA across his first six starts. His resurgent outings in 2015 have prompted some to wonder if the hurler known affectionately as “The Freak” is back to his once-dominant ways. He has allowed less than a hit per inning and has surrendered just eight earned runs over his 36 frames of work.
Half of those runs came in his poorest outing on April 27, when he lasted just four innings against the Dodgers. Four of his five other starts were of the quality variety, and the most recent two have been particularly superb. On May 3 against the Angels he tossed eight scoreless innings, allowing only three hits. Five days later he threw another six spotless frames against Miami and struck out eight.
It’s been a rocky road for Lincecum since his days as one of Major League Baseball’s premier aces. A few years after winning Cy Young awards in 2008 and 2009, he fell on hard times. From 2012-2014 he posted a bloated 4.76 ERA, a far cry from the 2.81 mark he managed over his previous string of four All-Star campaigns. He resurfaced in the headlines the past two seasons when he threw no-hitters in consecutive years against the Padres. Unfortunately for Lincecum, they were merely bright points in otherwise lackluster years.
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Lincecum regrouped in the offseason, training and working on his mechanics with his father. So far it seems to be making a difference. Lincecum has traditionally been most effective when consistently able to get ahead in the count and make batters chase balls out of the strike zone. He has done that quite well so far, with his renewed changeup serving as a successful finishing pitch. It’s a welcome bit of adaptation from Lincecum, who has struggled to deal with a steady velocity decline in recent seasons. In the last couple years alone he’s lost some noticeable ticks on his fastball. His reliance on that pitch has dropped significantly, down from about 55% usage six years ago to 27% this season. His slider has been cut out drastically as well, while the changeup has seen a sizeable bump.
The Giants right-hander has also been inducing ground balls at a considerably higher rate in 2015. Through six starts his ground ball rate stands at 54%, up from 47% a season ago. It’s a valuable adjustment for Lincecum to make considering his struggles with the long ball in the past. He currently boasts a 3.6% HR/FB rate after three straight years hovering around 15%. It will be hard to sustain that number but if he continues to keep the ball down he can certainly save himself a lot of trouble.
Evolving can be an exceedingly difficult task for a starting pitcher. Even in his heyday many wondered how long Tim Lincecum could last pitching in his style. With his relatively small frame and signature high-stress delivery, it appeared only a matter of time before he got hurt, became ineffective or both. He has faced a series of setbacks and obstacles, including relegation to the bullpen, so it is refreshing to see him perform well. And due to turn just 31 next month, he has the luxury of time on his side to figure things out.
Lincecum has always been a likeable guy, with a boyish charm and brand of California cool that suits his West Coast stomping grounds. It’s understandable that many fans are tossing around terms like “comeback” in discussing his nice opening run to the 2015 season. Is it too soon for that kind of talk? Most likely. Any pitcher would be hard-pressed to maintain this kind of pace moving forward, and it’s a safe bet Lincecum will encounter a rough spell at some point. He seems to have discovered a winning formula at present, however. If he remains committed to his new philosophy, he stands a very good chance of being a markedly better pitcher than he was the last few years.