Last year rookie pitchers Dice K of Boston and Tim Lincecum of San Francisco were heavily hyped. Both had pretty good seasons and showed signs of great promise. But both also fell somewhat short of the hype.

But in their sophomore seasons they are living up to the hype. Check it out:

Daisuke Matsuzaka went 15-12 with a 4.40 ERA and 201 SO in his rookie season for the Red Sox. Somewhat underwhelming numbers for a pitcher who was as hyped as he was. But the Red Sox won the World Series so folks were pleased enough.

But this year he's killing it. He's currently 10-1 with a 2.65 ERA in 2008. Although it's not all good news. He's had some problems with his control this year and he has 57 walks in just 88.3 innings. In fact he leads the AL in walks. His WHIP is actually slightly higher this year compared to last thus far (1.38 vs. 1.32)

Tim Lincecum went 7-5 with a 4.00 ERA (and 150 SO in just 146.3 innings) last season. Pretty good numbers.

But like Dice-K, this season he's turned it up to the next level. He's 11-2 with a 2.57 ERA. He's currently 2nd in the NL in ERA and 3rd in wins. He leads the NL with 135 SO. He's been selected for the NL all-star team.

At only 24 years of age, Lincecum looks like he could be one of the top pitchers in majors for some time to come. He almost makes up for the epic failure that was the Barry Zito signing.

Labels: Dice K, Tim Lincecum