FanPost

A Brief Historical Look at Lincecum

I was running through BB-Ref's awesome PI index this morning for fun and I came accross some interesting numbers on Tim Lincecum*. So, I thought I'd share them with McC.

*Note, this isn't a TIM IS BETTER THAN MATT post, so don't take it that way. Both are very good pitchers.

I love looking at historical numbers like this. I'm blown away by the amount of innings that guys like Christy Mathewson threw. Of course the baseball environment in which Mathewson played was radically different than it is today, or in any era, but throwing 390.2 innings in a season is cool to think about.

Tim Lincecum had another very, very solid performance. Lincecum’s final line was:

8 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 SO

Tim lowered his ERA to 2.68 and raised his ERA+ to 160. Among all major league pitchers with at least 140 innings pitched and ranked by ERA+, Tim is currently 4th. Only Cliff Lee, Danny Haren, and Carlos Zambrano have had better years. If the season ended right now, Linecum’s ERA+ would be good enough to place him 5th all-time since 1956 for Giants starters. Think about how amazing that is. Those four guys in front of him?

Cnt    Player    **ERA+**   IP  Year Age
+----+-----------+------+-----+----+---+
1 Jason Schmidt 179 207.2 2003 30
2 Juan Marichal 169 295.1 1965 27
3 Juan Marichal 168 299.2 1969 31
4 Juan Marichal 167 307.1 1966 28

If you ranked Giants pitchers since 1956 by ERA+ who were 24-years-old or younger and who threw at least 140 innings.

Cnt    Player      **ERA+** IP   Year Age
+----+------------+------+-----+----+---+
1 Tim Lincecum 160 157.2 2008 24
2 Bob Knepper 131 260 1978 24
3 Shawn Estes 130 201 1997 24
4 Mike McCormick 129 253 1960 21
5 Jim Barr 123 179 1972 24

Since 1956, Tim Lincecum is having the best season of any young Giants pitcher, ever. Bob Knepper went 17-11 in 1978. We’ve got a Shawn Estes sighting for his 1997 All-Star season. Mike McCormick and Jim Barr are also well known Giants pitchers. Let’s increase our range and go from 1876-2008 and look at the Giants franchise. Same parameters of innings pitched, age, and ranked by ERA+

Cnt    Player      **ERA+** IP   Year Age
+----+------------+------+-----+----+---+
1 Christy Mathewson 230 338.2 1905 24
2 Amos Rusie 189 444 1894 23
3 Johnny Antonelli 177 258.2 1954 24
4 Jeff Tesreau 173 243 1912 24
5 Tim Lincecum 160 157.2 2008 24
6 Hal Schumacher 148 258.2 1933 22
7 Christy Mathewson 147 366.1 1903 22
8 Amos Rusie 144 482 1893 22
9 Christy Mathewson 138 336 1901 20
10 Rube Marquard 134 277.2 1911 24

Christy Mathewson, greatest young Giants pitcher, ever? Lincecum’s having a good year, but I don’t think he’s going to catch Mathewson’s 230 ERA+ 1905 season. In fact, Mathewson makes this list 3 times. He’s also the youngest player in our top-10 of young greats. At the tender age of 20 Mathewson went 20-17 with a 2.41 ERA. Johnny Antonelli is an interesting player. He debuted in 1948 as an 18-year-old with the Boston Braves. In 1954, he was traded from the Milwaukee Braves along with Billy Klaus, Don Liddle, Ebba St. Claire — great baseball name — and cash to the New York Giants for Bobby Thompson and Sam Calderone. In that ‘54 season Antonelli went 21-7 with a 2.30 ERA. For those looking for Matt Cain, his 2007 season at age 22 places him 26th on this list.

Our list is rounded out with Amos Rusie, Jeff Tesreau, Hal Schumacher, and Rube Marquard (another great baseball name). Regardless of where Lincecum ends up in Giants history, it’s amazing how well he’s done in such a short time.

This FanPost is reader-generated, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of McCovey Chronicles. If the author uses filler to achieve the minimum word requirement, a moderator may edit the FanPost for his or her own amusement.

Recent FanPosts