Atomic RoadRunners | Andrew Flynn’s High-Energy Fantasy Baseball

In an excellent article on SI.com, Tom Verducci dives deep into the interesting and effective delivery of Tim Lincecum. BP’s Will Carroll says that “This might be the best article I’ve seen on pitching. Ever.”

As if peering around a corner, the Freak tilts his head slightly to the left as he begins his explosive, homemade pitching delivery. What lurks around that corner is either greatness or danger, which makes tiny Tim Lincecum, all 172 pounds of him, the most fascinating pitcher in baseball. Not since Mark (the Bird) Fidrych spoke to baseballs, manicured mounds and baffled hitters more than 30 years ago has a pitcher been this consistent and this captivating from the start of his career. Lincecum does not throw a baseball as much as he launches it, 98-mph rockets somehow expelled, with finely tuned kinetic energy, from a batboy’s body. He scares hitters and scouts alike.

Since his May 2007 call-up Lincecum has been only slightly more challenged by major league hitters. In 40 starts through Sunday, he was 16-6 with a 3.30 ERA and 264 strikeouts in 256 innings. Only one starting pitcher in baseball history, Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets in the mid-’80s, has won 70% of his decisions over his first two seasons while logging more strikeouts than innings.

The normal stride length for a pitcher is 77% to 87% of his height. Lincecum’s stride is 129%, some 7 1/2 feet.

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