I was reading about the NL Cy Young race this morning and it reminded me of a cool write-up from a few months back on Tim Lincecum in SI. Lincy looks like he's on track to win the NL award - leads in ERA, SOs, Win prct., etc.
His stats:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/player...playerId=28705
The guy is only making $400k this year! Crazy.
The SI article is a cool story of a father coaching a son and the dad telling college coaches to not screw with his motion. When he was drafted, many scouts said (and still say) his body can't take his motion over the long haul. It's the same thing they said about Pedro.
Quote:
Before Tim accepted a full ride at Washington, Chris [Tim's dad] made the Huskies' coaches promise they wouldn't change his mechanics…
Where Lincecum truly separates himself from most pitchers is the length of his stride. It is ridiculously long as it relates to his height. And just as his left foot, the landing foot, appears to be nearing the ground at the end of his stride, he lifts it as if stepping over a banana peel -- extending his stride even more. The normal stride length for a pitcher is 77% to 87% of his height. Lincecum's stride is 129%, or roughly 7 1/2 feet.
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...707/index.html
I love the fact that the kid is 5'11' 170 and ripping up the majors.