Slider versus Atlanta Braves

Inning	Batter	Velocity	Result
1	G. Blanco	80	Ball
1	Y. Escobar	82	Called strike
1	Y. Escobar	82	Called strike
1	Y. Escobar	81	Groundout to 1B
2	C. Sammons	84	Ball in dirt
2	C. Sammons	85	Swinging strike, K
3	G. Blanco	83	Foul
5	C. Sammons	83	Swinging strike, K
6	C. Jones	84	Swinging strike, K
7	K. Johnson	83	Ball
8	G. Norton	82	Ball
8	Y. Escobar	86	Ball

Slider versus Atlanta Braves

I realize that I have yet to chart the sliders Lincecum threw in his past two starts, but let's take a look at today's 3-2 win over the Braves.

Inning	Batter	Velocity	Result
1	C. Kotchman	82	Ball
1	B. McCann	83	Foul
2	M. Kotsay	84	Swinging strike, blocked, K
2	K. Johnson	79	Ball
6	O. Infante	77	Ball
6	O. Infante	80	Swinging strike, K
7	J. Francoeur	79	Swinging strike, blocked, K
8	O. Infante	82	Ball

Some Headdesking and Good News

First off, apologies for not writing over the past weekend. I've been run off my feet and couldn't get the time to sit down.

Headdesk

Anyways, Gameday decided to take Sunday off, meaning I have no slider numbers to draw out. Bochy's brain apparently decided to take Sunday off, too. What the heck was he thinking, especially with the comments he made about "backing off" Lincecum's workload? It was clear that Lincecum was struggling through 6 innings and wasn't fully recovered from the flu, but Bochy pushed him to 121 pitches while, get this, Hinshaw was already warmed up in the bullpen.

Tim now has 135 innings under his belt and about 9-10 starts left. If Bochy's not being a thickhead, he would limit Tim's starts to 5 innings max to prevent any potential arm injuries. Or shut him down 3 weeks early.

Good News

Now for the good news. The Giants sent Ray Durham to Milwaukee in exchange for two minor league players. Steve Hammond is a 26 year old lefty who excelled at AA ball(7-4, 3.45 ERA), but imploded once the Brewers promoted him to AAA (0-4, 7.41 ERA). At his age, he doesn't have much upside, but he projects as a long reliever or an emergency 5th starter a la Pat Misch.

Darren Ford is yet another centerfielder with no home run power. Baseball America ranked him as the fastest player in the Brewers' organization and a plus defender. The only thing standing between him and a starting role is his bat. He batted only .230/.322/.303 in High-A Brevard County and has a strikeout rate of 26% throughout his minor league career. His speed could make him a valuable leadoff hitter, but right now, he just blends into the scrap heap of light-hitting CFs in the Giants' organization.

Overall, Hammond and Ford for Durham is a good deal for the Giants. It frees up $1.5 million in the books and forces Bochy to start playing Burriss, Velez, Ochoa, and Denker, though the latter is currently playing in Fresno. If I were Bochy, I would give the nod to Denker at second base because his bat has more pop--more doubles power than home run power, but still--than the other three's.

If you want more info on the Giants' two new players, Chris at BCB has an in-depth post about their minor league stats and the implications.

And now for the second whammy of good news. With the August 15 signing deadline approaching, many Giants fans, including myself, are worried about the draftees who are still unsigned, among them top picks Buster Posey and Conor Gillaspie. According to Rivals, they should be signed come the deadline.

When Posey was drafted by the Orioles (Ed. note: Ahem, Giants) in June, he made several statements to me alluding to the fact that he might return to school for his senior season. That, of course, was immediately after the College World Series. With much having changed since that point, Posey has gone from having an open mind about returning to school to being quoted in newspaper articles as if he's already with the Giants. Though Posey hasn't signed the dotted line, every indication has him signing with the Giants. Posey's stock will never be higher and he's already proven to be the nation's best college player. Now it's time to take that label to professional baseball.

Gillaspie had a sensational junior campaign for the Shockers, and was drafted by the Giants in the supplemental first round. As with first-round pick Buster Posey, Gillaspie has yet to sign with the Giants. Still, that might not mean much. According to a source we spoke with at Wichita State, it would come as a huge surprise if Gillaspie decides to return to school for his senior season. After an outstanding season at the plate, Gillaspie's stock is at an all-time high and probably can't improve much. As a result, I'd expect to see Gillaspie sign before the August deadline.

Tim Lincecum: Professional Pitcher

Inning	Batter	Velocity	Result
1	D. Lee	84	Ball
1	D. Lee	82	Ball
3	R. Theriot	81	Ball
3	M. Fontenot	82	Swinging strike, K
3	D. Lee	82	Ball
4	J. Edmonds	84	Ball in dirt
6	D. Lee	83	Called strike
7	H. Blanco	83	Called strike, K
7	K. Fukudome	84	Foul
8	D. Lee	83	Swinging strike

Once again, Lincecum precludes what could have been a depressing All-Star Break for the Giants with a dazzling performance: 8 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 1 BB, 9 K. He even helped his own cause by driving in the first run of the game with an RBI triple.

Two key points of the game, I think, were Fukudome's at-bat in the 7th and Ramirez's at-bat in the 8th. Fukudome is one of the few hitters that consistently gives Lincecum a workout. Yesterday was no different. The slider was only one pitch of an 11-pitch at-bat before Tim struck him out with changeup.

In the eighth, Tim gave up two infield singles and Aramis Ramirez was at the plate. Given the Giants' tendency to give up 3-run jacks on this road trip, I was nervous. Turned out I didn't need to be, as he got Ramirez to ground into a double-play.

With these two batters, Tim showed that he's matured as a pitcher and can get the timely out in a big situation. He has the patience to grind out an at-bat and not give in to the hitter; he knows when to get quick outs by pitching to contact instead of trying to strike out the hitter. As Krukow says: "He's a pitcher, now. Not a thrower."

The only question now is if Tim will participate in the All-Star Game after throwing 116 pitches. Clint Hurdle chose Ben Sheets as the starter because Brandon Webb pitched yesterday, so it's likely that Tim will be limited to an inning, if he even pitches at all. Good. There's no rush to push him into an All-Star Game with 129.2 IP already under his belt, and I don't want to see one of the Giants' lone bright spots on the DL because of an exhibition game. Besides, he'll have another opportunity, or 8, to start the All-Star Game.

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Odds and ends to wrap up today:

- The Giants signed 16-year old Rafael Rodriguez from the Dominican Republic over the weekend. He's vaunted as the "next" Vlad Guerrero and Dave Winfield, but Giants scouting director John Barr discouraged those comparisons. They're unfair, considering he just turned 16 and is still raw, but the Giants like what they see in him. Here's what Barr said about Rodriguez:

We felt he was one of the best international players we got a chance to look at. This player is 6-foot-5, 198 pounds. He's shown us really all the tools to play the game. He can run. He can throw. He's shown us power and the ability to take the ball the other way. He's a five-tool player. Adding to that, he has the makeup and work ethic to fulfill his abilities.

- Could Omar Vizquel retire during the break? Not so, says the wiz himself.

- Baggs also speculates that the team just isn't that high on Schierholtz. I think they like him enough not to burn up his options with Winn playing the majority of the time in RF, but not enough to promote him regardless of Winn's contract status. Not to mention the cluster of young outfielders, Lewis and Bowker, who are also making a case for regular starts.

Time Release Jinx

Inning	Batter	Velocity	Result
1	C. Beltran	83	Ball
1	D. Easley	81	Ball
2	B. Schneider	82	Ball
3	C. Beltran	83	Ground ball single to RF
5	J. Reyes	82	Foul

Exactly a week after Lincecum graces the pages of SI:

- he loses for the first time since the Gary Darling incident.
- he serves up two home-runs after giving up 5 in the past 3 months.
- the Giants are shutout for the first time since June 14.

There can be only one explanation: the baseball gods feel threatened by Lincecum and his success. They therefore decided to give him a loss and push his HR/9 ratio closer to league average to make him seem mortal.

Lincecum Slider vs Chicago Cubs

Inning	Batter	Velocity	Result
1	K. Fukudome	83	Foul
1	K. Fukudome	80	Swinging strike, K
1	D. Lee	84	Line drive single to CF
3	R. Johnson	89	Called strike
3	K. Fukudome	84	Foul
4	G. Soto	81	Swinging strike
4	G. Soto	81	Swinging strike, K

First time all season that Tim threw all his sliders for strikes.

Wasn't Expecting That

Inning	Batter	Velocity	Result
1	A. Gordon	87	Ball in Dirt
2	J. Guillen	83	Called strike, K
3	D. DeJesus	83	Called strike
3	D. DeJesus	83	Called strike
3	J. Gathright	87	Ball
4	A. Gordon	83	In play, GB single to RF
4	J. Guillen	82	Ball
4	J. Buck	82	Foul
4	J. Buck	82	Ball
4	J. Buck	85	Swinging strike, K
5	M. Aviles	85	Ball

Uncharacteristically rough start for Lincecum, who ran into trouble in the 3rd inning onwards after sitting on the bench for quite a while. He finished a shaky 5th inning with 8 strikeouts but gave up 5 runs in 5 innings, the most runs scored against him since August 11th, though the Giants still led 10-5. The rest of the game is not worth noting, except for this:


Tim hasn't faced much adversity this season, but he wasn't his usual dominant self the past two starts. In the last two games, he pitched 12 innings, giving up 12 hits and 9 runs. Is it possible he might be wearing down, despite his near-perfect mechanics? He's logged 102.7 innings so far--on pace for more than the 146.3 innings he pitched in 2007--a good reason for some fatigue. Or, his shaky starts are just another episode of the big league cat-mouse game: batters adjust, Tim adjusts right back.

Tim's next start will be more interesting than usual. We'll see if today's off-day helps rest his arm, or if he adjusts back into his dominating self.

Comment starter: Is Tim wearing down a bit, or is the league figuring him out?

Slider Numbers

Inning	Batter	Velocity	Result
2	I. Rodriguez	81	Ball
3	C. Granderson	81	Ball in dirt
4	M. Cabrera	86	Swinging strike, K
4	M. Holliman	83	Swinging strike, K
5	C. Granderson	79	Swinging strike
5	P. Polanco	86	Ball

Last night's game wasn't the strikeout gala I was hoping for, but I'll take it.

Bargain Hunters

Inning	Batter	Velocity	Result
3	C. Iannetta	82	Ball
3	O. Quintanilla	84	Infield single
4	T. Helton	84	Ball
4	B. Hawpe	86	Foul
4	O. Quintanilla	84	Ball
5	M. Holliday	83	Swinging strike, K
6	G. Atkins	82	Ball
6	B. Hawpe	84	GIDP

Not much to report from last night's game, except I had fun watching Lincecum and Jimenez battle for 7 innings. Unfortunate that Bengie couldn't pull off a play at the plate to preserve a nil-nil tie, which happens since the Giants' offense typically dies a mile from sea level.

About the slider: same stuff as before. Tim normally uses the fastball-curveball or fastball-changeup combo in the first couple of innings, and then throws in the slider every once in a while to give the opposing lineup another pitch to think about the second and third times up.

When it breaks, the slider moves away from a RHB enough so if it misses, it misses low and away. (Kalk's player card)

If a batter makes contact, he only manages to hit grounders, as in the cases of Quintanilla and Hawpe.

As a whole, Lincecum gets yet another solid game to put into his resume when extension time rolls around. Right now, he's second in the league in ERA, ERA+, and strikeouts only to Edison Volquez. He's out-pitching the likes of Webb and Santana while making vastly less money than the two: a mere $405-grand. The Giants are paying a bargain price for excellent performances every 5 days. It's time to get Lincecum signed.

Previous slider goodness here.

Lincecum Keeps Rollin'

Inning	Batter	Velocity	Result
3	T. Redding	86	Swinging strike, K
5	K. Casto	84	Infield hit, single
6	C. Guzman	82	Groundout
7	K. Casto	82	Ball

Before I address the slider, can we just crown Lincecum king of the universe and be done with it? He's good. He's also the first Giants in 15 years to start off a season with an 8-1 record.

All seriousness aside, yesterday's data probably is not accurate since Gameday blanked on types of pitches in the 5th and 6th innings.

The information that actually showed up supports the same points I've noticed in previous posts. Sample sizes have tailed off in Lincecum's past starts since he has not thrown nearly as many sliders per game as he did against the Cardinals. I can say that no batter has teed off on the slider yet, though Casto managed an infield single.

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Dirty Sanchez tonight at 4. 15 hits for the Giants again?

Sliiider

Againts the Diamondbacks 5/28:

Inning	Batter	Velocity	Result
4	C. Jackson	85	Ball
5	J. Salazar	84	Ball
5	J. Salazar	83	Ball
6	C. Jackson	82	In play, pop-out
8	S. Drew	82	Ball

Not too much to speak of here, since Lincecum threw only 5 sliders. The only point of import to note is that he threw the slider to two lefties, Salazar and Drew, and one rightie, Jackson.

I don’t have the exact percentage, but I’ll take a wild guess that he throws the slider at a lesser clip than 17.9% and 13.6%, the respective rates for his changeup and curveball. Last season, those rates flip-flopped, because Lincecum gradually developed the change-up into one of his most effective pitches. As before, though the slider is this year’s “project pitch,” batters have not yet picked up on it. With the success he’s had so far, the number of sliders thrown should increase by the ending of the season.

Tracking the Slider

I'm thinking about making a weekly feature about Lincecum's slider. What say you?

The first installment:

4/29 vs Rockies (known thereafter as the Gary Darling game):


In this game, Lincecum did not throw as many sliders as compared to the number thrown in his first start against the Cardinals. Out the sliders he did throw, 10 of them were to right-handed batters (the lone pitch was to Todd Helton, a lefty). The slider is becoming quite effective because it breaks down and away from righties. It doesn’t break as much as his curveball, but the extra 4 MPH compensates for downward movement. Once Tim completely masters the slider, I expect that he can easily get lefties out with it, since it breaks down and into a left-handed batter.

More information about Tim’s pitches and movement, among other goodies, on his player card provided by Josh Kalk:

Tim Lincecum's Player Card

Also, to celebrate the anniversary of Tim's arrival at the bigs: sharksrog on McCovey Chronicles has started a discussion about the origin of Tim's middle name, LeRoy. For starters, it's not pronounced LEE-roy. It's Luh-ROY. And, his name originates from "Le Roi," French for "The King." Apt, no?


All hail King Timothy (photo from Yahoo! Sports)

Lincecum's Arsenal: The Slider

During spring training, Lincecum announced that he would add the slider to his repertoire. So far, it doesn’t seem like he’s having any trouble throwing it whenever and wherever he wants too.

I thought it would be pretty interesting to track his slider’s progress throughout the season, so I started during Lincecum’s start against the Cardinals at home. It wouldn’t be surprising if he got smacked around a bit since the slider is a new pitch for him, but the early success he’s had with it speaks volumes about his skill level.

I only have his starts against the Cardinals, but I'll put up the numbers for his previous starts and the one against the Padres.

4/13 @ STL:



4/19 vs STL: