Brewers lefty Kyle Harrison seems to be playing Tim Lincecum's role on 2014 SF Giants

The Milwaukee Brewers have made it to the World Series which means that former SF Giants pitcher Kyle Harrison could get himself a shiny ring even though he has yet to throw a pitch for Milwaukee in the playoffs. So far his usage has been reminiscent of the way the Giants used Tim Lincecum in the playoffs back in 2014.

By 2014, Lincecum had obviously declined pretty severely from his 2008 to 2010 peak. He had a 4.74 ERA on the season and lost his job in the starting rotation towards the end of the season. He made every playoff roster but did not get an opportunity to pitch until Game 2 of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals.

It was basically just mop-up duty as he came in late when the Giants were already down and he pitched 1 and 2/3 scoreless innings before he had to leave the game due to back tightness.

It’s sort of remarkable how Lincecum went from being the bonafide ace of the 2010 staff who was on the mound and pitched the game of his life in Game 5 of the World Series to win it all to a really effective bullpen arm who gave the Giants some valuable innings in 2012 to almost an afterthought in 2014.

Harrison is obviously in a much different point of his career than Lincecum was in 2014. Harrison is still only 25 so he presumably has his whole career ahead of him but maybe this experience of at least watching the playoffs will be good for him.

He’s getting to feel the atmosphere of the playoffs and is understanding what it takes to beat really good teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Harrison is a key part of the rotation the next time Milwaukee makes it to the playoffs.

Kyle Harrison could still play some sort of limkted role for the Brewers

Harrison’s 2026 has almost been a microcosm of Lincecum’s career in a way. He started off on a Cy Young pace, slowly started to struggle as his body wore down, got injured, and is now a playoff afterthought.

He could still potentially be a hero in the World Series, though. If a game goes into extra innings or they need a guy to come in and provide some bulk innings he could end up playing a role even though he hasn’t pitched in a game since late September.

He’s the only former Giant in the World Series so for fans who like cheering for old friends he is the only rooting interest even though there’s a decent chance he won’t pitch very much, if at all, in the Fall Classic much like Lincecum in 2014. 

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