Tim Lincecum - Freak of Nature

The Cubs play at 4 Pacific Time and wrap-up a four game series against the Giants in AT&T Park. From there, the Cubs head to St. Louis for a weekend match-up with their closest rival in the division.

The Cubs have a shot at a 3-1 series win, but need to beat Tim Lincecum, who may be the best pitcher in the National League. He's small, but throws 98, has a nasty curveball, and added a slider this year (it popped up at least two times in 2007).

Check out some video from MLBAM on YouTube, and a great story in SI to get some background, if you're not already familiar with Lincecum. Even if you are, both are worthwhile.

Tom Verducci's article in SI



Good stuff. Here's look via PITCHf/x

Tim Lincecum: Spin Movement (inches)



Tim Lincecum: Flight Paths



Tim Lincecum: Effectiveness

cfx	L	R	mph	pfx_x	pfx_z	deg	rpm	B:CS	corner%	Sw%	Whiff%	SwOZ%	TaIZ%	HR%	NKS	G:AO
CH	317	84	83.8	-4.0	5.4	213	842	6.1	11.97	50.37	43.56	39.35	18.02	0.2	0.421	1.1
CU	126	278	80.3	5.5	-5.1	225	884	1.9	8.42	38.86	40.13	33.07	42.25	0.5	0.527	1.5
FA	923	900	94.9	-3.2	10.3	196	1,490	1.8	12.29	45.42	14.49	29.68	30.17	0.4	0.441	1.1
SL	65	53	84.1	1.3	2.0	180	481	4.9	6.78	55.08	44.62	40.26	14.29	0.0	0.350	0.8
	1431	1315	90.7	-1.8	6.9	202	1,263	2.1	11.43	45.59	23.96	32.49	29.77	0.4	0.445	1.1

Tim Lincecum: Pitch Selection

vs. LHH

		#	FA	CH	CU	SL
L	first	356	68.0	17.4	11.0	3.7
L	ahead	400	54.3	26.5	11.0	8.3
L	behind	320	82.2	14.4	2.2	1.3
L	even	270	52.6	33.3	9.3	4.8
L	full	85	69.4	15.3	12.9	2.4

vs. RHH

		#	FA	CH	CU	SL
R	first	361	72.9	3.0	21.6	2.5
R	ahead	334	56.3	4.2	32.6	6.9
R	behind	348	81.0	8.9	8.3	1.7
R	even	213	60.1	10.3	23.5	6.1
R	full	59	66.1	10.2	20.3	3.4

Tim Lincecum: Pitch Selection by Start



Lincecum's last two starts are noteworthy. The first was his worst of the year, his last the best of the year. Notice the pitch selections. I was able to see him live, thanks to Sportvision, since he was the Giants' starter (against Jamie Moyer) during the PFX Summit in May. His delivery looked violent from the right-field corner, that much I can say for sure. He's clearly dominating, but he seems to be morphing and growing as a pitcher. He'll face Sean Gallagher, another youngster.