Tim Lincecum

Timothy Leroy Lincecum is a professional baseball player currently signed as a starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was born in Bellevue, Washington on June 15, 1984. A hard-throwing right-hander, Lincecum is nicknamed the "Franchise" by his Giants teammates and led the Majors in strikeouts in 2008.

Lincecum was drafted as the 10th overall by the San Francisco Giants during the 2006 MLB Draft, becoming the first player from the University of Washington to be taken in the first round. He made his professional debut with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, the Giants' Class A Short Season affiliate, on July 26, 2006. On May 6, 2007, Lincecum made his first major league start for the Giants.

Minor League

Lincecum was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 48th round (1,408th overall) of the 2003 MLB Draft, but did not sign. He decided to attend college instead, and was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 42nd round (1,261st overall) upon re-entering the draft in 2005, but once again failed to sign. The next year, he was drafted 10th overall by the San Francisco Giants, becoming the first player from the University of Washington to be taken in the first round. He signed for a $2.025 million signing bonus on June 30, which at the time was the highest amount the organization had ever paid to any amateur player (until they gave $2.1 million to Angel Villalona a little over a month later).

During his brief minor league career, he was frequently named as the top pitching prospect in the Giants organization. Lincecum made his professional debut on July 26, 2006 with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (the Giants' Class A Short Season affiliate) against the Vancouver Canadians, pitching one inning and striking out all three batters he faced. After his second outing on July 31 against the Boise Hawks, in which he pitched three innings, striking out seven and allowing just one baserunner, he was promoted to the High Class-A San Jose Giants. On August 5, in his first start in San Jose against the Bakersfield Blaze, he pitched 2⅔ innings, allowing three runs (two earned), and striking out five. Lincecum finished the year 2-0 with a 1.95 ERA, 48 strikeouts, and 12 walks in 27⅔ innings pitched. He also got the victory in the opening game of the California League playoffs, giving up one run on five hits in seven innings, striking out ten and walking one against the Visalia Oaks. Visalia would win the series 3-2.

Going into 2007, Lincecum was ranked as the #11 prospect in baseball and the #1 prospect in the San Francisco Giants organization by Baseball America. He spent the first month of the season pitching for the Fresno Grizzlies, the Giants' Triple-A affiliate. In five starts (31 innings), he allowed just one run, twelve hits, eleven walks, while striking out forty-six and going 4-0.

During his 2006 and 2007 minor league campaigns, Lincecum struck out the highest percentage of batters (minimum 100) of any minor league pitcher in the last ten years: 30.9 percent. Colorado Rockies prospect Ian Stewart called Lincecum "the toughest pitcher [he] ever faced," adding "Guys on our club who have been in the big leagues said he's the toughest guy they ever faced too ... I'm not really sure why he's down here, but for a guy who was drafted last year ... that guy is filthy."


Major League

With an injury to the Giants' fifth starter, Russ Ortiz, Lincecum was called up to make his first major league start on May 6, 2007 against the Philadelphia Phillies. He earned a no-decision; the Giants ultimately lost the game, 8-5. In his first career inning, Lincecum gave up two hits, two runs, and struck out three. He earned his first major league win in his next start, on the road against the Rockies.

Lincecum, who is often compared to Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt, faced him in each of his next two starts. After the first matchup, Astros third baseman Mike Lamb said, "The stuff he was throwing out there tonight was everything he's hyped up to be. He was 97 mph with movement. You just don't see that every day. He pitched very much like the pitcher he is compared to and outdueled him throughout the night." The pair dueled to a no-decision the first time, and Lincecum pitched eight innings and got the win the second time.

In his first four starts in June, he allowed twenty-two earned runs in 18⅔ innings, for a 10.61 ERA. He failed to make it to the fifth inning in any of the last three starts, against Oakland, Toronto, and Milwaukee. In July, he went 4-0 with a 1.62 ERA. On July 1, in a seven inning performance against the Arizona Diamondbacks, he struck out twelve, the fourth highest total ever by a Giants rookie. Lincecum pitched into the ninth inning for the first time on August 21 against the Chicago Cubs. He had allowed just two hits and one walk through the first eight, while throwing only eighty-eight pitches. He took a 1-0 lead into the ninth, but allowed three consecutive hits before being pulled. The Cubs scored several times against the Giants bullpen and Lincecum took the loss. Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot said after the game, "He's got electric stuff. The best stuff I've seen all year."

Lincecum was shut down in September as a precautionary measure, due to his high inning count in his first full year of professional ball. Between the minors and the majors, he pitched a total of 177⅓ innings.

2008

The Giants asked Lincecum not to throw the bullpen sessions typical of other pitchers during the offseason. Manager Bruce Bochy told The San Francisco Chronicle that they were being careful with Lincecum because there have been studies that show that pitchers who throw 200 innings early in their career were more susceptible to injuries. On May 15, 2008, after Lincecum struck out ten Houston Astros in six innings, Houston first baseman Lance Berkman offered his view of Lincecum: "He's got as good of stuff as I've ever seen. ... He's got three almost unhittable pitches." After falling to Lincecum and the Giants 6-3 on May 27, Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Conor Jackson gave his impression of facing Lincecum: "He's got good stuff," Jackson said. "From what I saw tonight, that's the best arm I've seen all year, no doubt. You've got to almost hit a ball right down the middle. You're going to pop up the ball at your bellybutton, which we all did tonight, and the one down, it's coming in at 98 mph, you're not going to put too much good wood on it. Even the ones down the middle are coming at 98. He's good, man."

Lincecum was on the cover of the July 7, 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated, and on July 6, he was selected to play in his first Major League Baseball All-Star Game. However, he was hospitalized the day of the game due to flu-like symptoms and was unavailable to pitch. In a July 26 game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, he struck out a career-high thirteen batters in seven innings while allowing only seven hits, two earned runs, and no walks.

Lincecum pitched his first complete game shutout against the San Diego Padres on September 13, 2008. In nine innings he threw 138 pitches, gave up four hits and struck out twelve batters. On September 23, he broke Jason Schmidt's San Francisco single season strikeout record with his 252nd strikeout of the season against the Colorado Rockies. He finished the season with 265 strikeouts, making him the first San Francisco pitcher to win the National League strikeout title, and the first Giant since Bill Voiselle in 1944. On November 11, 2008, Lincecum was awarded the NL Cy Young Award, making him the second Giant to win the award after Mike McCormick.


2009

After winning the NL Cy Young Award in 2008, Tim Lincecum has continued his dominance in the National League. Lincecum was announced as a National League All Star along with his teammate Matt Cain. On July 3rd, Tim Lincecum was announced as the National League Pitcher of the Month for June. In his six June starts he went 4-1 with a 1.38 ERA and pitched 3 complete games. Through 18 starts in 2009, Lincecum has gone 10-2 with a 2.33 ERA, 149 Strikeouts, 3 complete games and 2 shut outs. Lincecum also had a 29 scoreless inning streak, a career high.

San Francisco Giants Ace Lincecum won two straight Cy Young Awards (2008, 2009)