Tim Lincecum
The Freak's career arc remains one of baseball's most fascinating cautionary tales about velocity and mechanics. Lincecum's 261 strikeouts in 2009 came with a 2.48 ERA that was 74% better than league average — a peak few pitchers ever reach. His signature four-seam fastball and devastating changeup made him nearly unhittable when he was on.
But Lincecum's reliance on max-effort mechanics caught up with him quickly. After posting back-to-back Cy Young seasons, his ERA jumped from 2.62 in 2011 to 5.18 in 2012, and he never truly recovered. The man who struck out 1,736 batters in just 1,682 innings became a cautionary reminder that even the most electric arms can flame out fast.
His 110-89 record tells only part of the story — those early Giants years showcased one of the most dominant stretches by any pitcher in the 2000s, even if it lasted just five seasons.
Career · Hitting
10 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | SF | 24 | 43 | 0 | 0 | .093 | .250 | 33 |
| 2008 | SF | 34 | 70 | 0 | 5 | .157 | .413 | 55 |
| 2009 | SF | 33 | 66 | 0 | 3 | .152 | .386 | 51 |
| 2010 | SF | 33 | 67 | 0 | 5 | .104 | .247 | 34 |
| 2011 | SF | 33 | 61 | 0 | 1 | .082 | .207 | 29 |
| 2012 | SF | 33 | 45 | 0 | 3 | .089 | .285 | 39 |
| 2013 | SF | 32 | 57 | 0 | 1 | .105 | .290 | 41 |
| 2014 | SF | 34 | 44 | 0 | 1 | .068 | .214 | 31 |
| 2015 | SF | 16 | 21 | 0 | 0 | .143 | .408 | 57 |
| 2016 | LAA | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Career | 281 | 474 | 0 | 19 | .112 | — | — | |
Career · Pitching
10 seasons| Year | Team | G | IP | W | L | ERA | ERA+ | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | SF | 24 | 146.3 | 7 | 5 | 4.00 | 112 | 150 | 1.278 |
| 2008 | SF | 34 | 227.0 | 18 | 5 | 2.62 | 165 | 265 | 1.172 |
| 2009 | SF | 32 | 225.3 | 15 | 7 | 2.48 | 174 | 261 | 1.047 |
| 2010 | SF | 33 | 212.3 | 16 | 10 | 3.43 | 119 | 231 | 1.272 |
| 2011 | SF | 33 | 217.0 | 13 | 14 | 2.74 | 144 | 220 | 1.207 |
| 2012 | SF | 33 | 186.0 | 10 | 15 | 5.18 | 77 | 190 | 1.468 |
| 2013 | SF | 32 | 197.7 | 10 | 14 | 4.37 | 88 | 193 | 1.315 |
| 2014 | SF | 33 | 155.7 | 12 | 9 | 4.74 | 79 | 134 | 1.394 |
| 2015 | SF | 15 | 76.3 | 7 | 4 | 4.13 | 96 | 60 | 1.480 |
| 2016 | LAA | 9 | 38.3 | 2 | 6 | 9.16 | 46 | 32 | 2.374 |
| Career | 278 | 1681.9 | 110 | 89 | — | — | 1736 | — | |
Each pitch type this pitcher throws regularly, placed by how the ball moves — sideways break across, rise or drop down the side. Each dotted ring holds about the middle 85% of the league’s pitches of that type, so a cluster sitting outside its ring is movement most pitchers don’t have.
The dots — a sample of this pitcher’s regular-season pitches, placed by movement: left–right is horizontal break, up–down is induced vertical break (what the pitch does beyond gravity). The view is handedness-neutral — positive break is toward the pitcher’s arm side for lefties and righties alike, so every sinker runs right and every sweeper breaks left, whoever throws it.
The dotted rings — about the middle 85% of where each pitch type lands league-wide (a 2-standard-deviation spread), measured from 7.5 million regular-season pitches since 2015. A cluster sitting well outside its ring is movement most of the league doesn’t get. Spring training and the postseason are excluded.
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.