News Flash: Tim Lincecum is Really Good

Tim Lincecum vs. Carlos Zambrano. Hopefully both will be at the top of their game. With Derrek Lee's neck spasms and Aramis Ramirez's balky shoulder, Lincecum will face a weak Cubs line-up. That hasn't necessarily worked in The Freak's favor in the past.

Lincecum throws a few pitches. Four- and two-seam fastballs, change-ups, curveballs and even a few sliders. To facilitate a thumbnail of the Giants' ace, I'm dealing with fastballs (both varieties), curves and changes. Here are a few of my favorite metrics, both for 2009 and his career (most of his games are in PITCHf/x, even many of his 2007 starts). You can click the headers to sort.





Pitch
When
In Zone*
SLGCON
Whiff
Watch
rv100
rv100E





Fastball
All
.578
.475
.142
.432
-0.66
-0.24



Change-up
All
.427
.431
.433
.206
-2.78
-2.45



Curveball
All
.436
.411
.373
.504
-1.44
-0.90



Fastball
2009
.579
.498
.124
.459
-0.48
-0.09



Change-up
2009
.421
.377
.422
.201
-4.19
-3.51



Curveball
2009
.443
.340
.331
.483
-1.51
-0.34





His change-up is the most effective pitch in baseball, based on run values. And it's no fluke. The basic experience with Lincecum can be summarized as:

• Fastballs that you can't do much with and get called for a lot of strikes
• Curveballs that freeze you in the zone and produce at least an average whiff rate (for a curve)
• Change-ups that are devastating
  

*two feet wide, individual hitters' top/bottoms