Who Is This Years Tim Lincecum?

Every year there is a player in baseball that bursts out from nowhere, to the league’s elite. Guys like Albert Pujols, who matured so quickly and went from Single A and a short time in AAA to NL Rookie of the Year. He is now arguably the best hitter in baseball.

On the pitching side there is no better example than San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum. He had fewer than 25 starts in the Majors in 2007 and did fairly well, but no one could say they expected to see Tim be this good this fast. He was 7-5 with a 4.00 ERA in 2007.

Obviously the Giants expected him to improve and develop and boy were they in for a treat. From Day One of the 2008 season, Tim Lincecum set out to be the best player he could be. He had his doubters, but hey, he is well under 6'0", he is going to have doubters.

Maybe it helped Tim; he thought so, "People out there said I was too small. It's those kinds of moments that pushed me to be where I'm at right now" said Lincecum just prior to the 2008 Season. This motivation turned Lincecum into a guy who looked to be 2-3 years away from being a good pitcher in this league to the NL Cy Young Award Winner who went 18-5 with 2.62 ERA, 265 K’s in 227 innings.

There are plenty of candidates to be this year’s Pujols or Lincecum. Tampa’s David Price, Minnesota’s Kevin Slowey, and Arizona’s Max Scherzer all have set themselves up nicely to fly under the radar and have themselves a great 2009.

You may be wondering why I didn’t consider any hitters. That’s not completely true, I considered Matt Weiters, the young catcher out of Baltimore, but I was not sure if he would be called up soon enough to put up the numbers that would really catch our attention.

However, none of the aforementioned players will have quite the year one young Los Angeles Dodgers Starting Pitcher will have. Tall and lengthy Left-Hander Clayton Kershaw is the man I am referring to.

Clayton was drafted in the 2006 First Year Player Draft by the Dodgers. Just 3 spots ahead of the man whose season he will try to copy, Kershaw being picked at number 7. Kershaw’s Rookie Campaign was very similar to that of Lincecum. Kershaw went 5-5 with a 4.26 ERA in just about 108 innings.

Lincecum had very similar number in his rookie season in 2007 as seen above. Kershaw has a nasty curveball which has been nicknamed “Public Enemy No. 1” by Legendary Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully, a solid fastball and a good changeup.

All pitches that Lincecum used during his stellar sophomore campaign. Kershaw figures to be slated as the third or fourth starter depending on injuries questions about Jason Schmidt. Regardless, Kershaw has little pressure to perform at a high level.

He plays in a pitcher park for one, he will not be facing other team’s aces for the most part, and he will most likely have one of the greatest right handed hitters in the game picking him up when he isn’t on top of his game.

If Kershaw can stay consistent with his pitches, locate his fastball as he has shown he could, he will be this year’s Tim Lincecum.