Tim Lincecum: Analyzing The Giants’ NLCS Game 5 Starting Pitcher

Vitals

5’11, 170
Right-handed
212.1 innings
3.43 ERA
9.8 K/9
3.2 BB/9

2010 Playoffs

16 innings, 3 runs, 4 walk, 22 strikeouts

Earlier Start Summary

Tim Lincecum started Game 1 of the series and actually managed to outduel Roy Halladay, getting the win after allowing three runs over seven innings. He wasn’t quite his usual self, and he struggled with his location, but he still wound up finishing with eight strikeouts and three walks. Though he allowed two home runs, they were hit to right-center by right-handed hitters and only barely got out of a fairly small ballpark. Lincecum was mediocre for him, and excellent for most anybody else.

Repertoire

You’ll remember that, when Tim Lincecum first arrived in the bigs, he featured a mid-90s fastball that he could push to 97 or 98. He doesn’t really do that anymore, but he remains effective nevertheless. His fastball sits in the lower 90s and acts somewhat similar to a cutter, in that it doesn’t have a ton of horizontal break. His preferred secondary pitch is a changeup around 82-85 that comes with a ton of sink. After that, he’ll go to his curve, which has sharp break in the high-70s. Finally, he will occasionally feature a mid-80s slider that’s more of a swing-and-miss pitch than his curve.

Facing Righties

One of the problems with facing Lincecum is that he isn’t easy to predict, as he barely throws his fastball 50% of the time. He will use it more often early in the count, and he works up and down rather than side to side with it. But you never know he’s going to throw that pitch, and he’s perfectly comfortable going with his curve or change when he needs a strike. When he’s ahead, even the slight fastball preference goes away. He’ll try and get a swing and miss on a changeup down and in, or he’ll try to get a swing and miss on a breaking ball down and away. Lincecum is a rare specimen in that he loves to throw his changeup to same-handed hitters, and he makes it work.

Facing Lefties

Lincecum likes throwing his change to righties, but he loves throwing it to lefties. Again, he’ll try to get ahead with his fastball. He’ll look to place his fastball over the outer half, or he’ll opt to put a curve in the same place to screw with the hitter’s timing. But that change is always a weapon, in any count, and Lincecum’s excellent at keeping it away from the hitter and frequently down, out of his reach. Here’s all you need to know: lefties made contact against Lincecum’s change just 55% of the time they swung at it. It’s one of the best individual pitches in baseball, and Lincecum knows it. Lefties can’t do much.