SPRING NOTES: Lincecum looking determined to go Maddux-style, and it could be a compelling conversion Posted on March 17, 2014 by Carl Steward Tim Lincecum has been throwing Koufax style his entire life. He lived by the strikeout, and went after them with zeal. Now, as he approaches his 30th birthday in June, he appears seriously committed to abandoning the strikeout mindset and going Maddux style — command the zone with his vast arsenal of pitches and just get outs. Keep it down, change speeds, pitch to contact. Can he do it? If he wants to continue being a successful starting pitcher, he knows he’d better do it. With that in mind, 2014 may not prove to be Lincecum’s most exciting season, but it may be his most compelling. Very few pitchers have made a convincing conversion from being a power pitcher to a finesse pitcher, but the great ones have found a way. Maybe Lincecum can find a way, because he has been one of the great power pitchers of his generation. I believe the Giants saw the early inklings of this transformation late in the season last year, which is one of the main reasons he was re-upped for two years and $35 million. Lincecum faced 25 batters Monday against the Los Angeles Angels and did not record a single strikeout. He only has four whiffs in 14 2/3 innings this spring (along with six walks). It’s the second time this spring he hasn’t had a strikeout, and he actually is trying to get hitters to hit the ball, but also hit his pitch. I asked him after his outing whether he ever believed it would come to this, that he would become a pitch-to-contact pitcher. He was honest in his answer. “Never,” he said. “In my mind, I always knew that I was always trying to strike out guys. That was even my mindset coming up.” And the new mindset? “It’s different, but I keep telling myself an out is an out, and that I’ll like going further into games,” he said. “Strikeouts sometimes have hurt me and sometimes they haven’t. But I’m just trying to get quick outs now.” It’ll be a work in progress, but it should be fun to watch it unfold. Lincecum said he will do more study of opposing hitters this year, trying to discern their weaknesses. Ultimately, he wants to locate a reduced-velocity fastball much more precisely, which will set up his slider, curveball and changeup. If he can cut down the walks, he feels he can be successful with that formula. “My mindset has been more to stay within the zone,” he said. “I’ve had my walks here and there, but I bounce back and not go back-to-back. I’m trying to stick more in the bottom part of the zone where I think I’ll induce more contact than not. I’ll just go for the strikeouts when I need them.” It can only help to have Tim Hudson and Matt Cain, two veteran pitch-to-contact masters, serving as sounding boards for his quest. It can’t be an easy transition, but sounds like Lincecum has made it mentally. Now it’s simply a matter of refining and executing this new style. If he can master it, he could still be a highly successful starter deep into his 30s, because he definitely has enough pitches to keep hitters off balance.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 20:13:29 +0000
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