Young Mets pitcher has strikingly similar delivery to SF Giants legend

It has been a long time since SF Giants fans have seen legendary pitcher Tim Lincecum pitch, but New York Mets pitcher Jonah Tong's delivery is strikingly similar to the two-time Cy Young Award winner.

Tong just made his MLB debut with New York and pitched five solid innings allowing one earned run while striking out six batters. The similarities between him and Lincecum are plain for all to see:

Mets pitcher Jonah Tong's delivery is strikingly similar to SF Giants legend Tim Lincecum

His motion is not exactly like The Freak's, but the high overhand release and the extension he gets out of a skinnier frame certainly bring to mind Lincecum's motion. The 22-year-old apparently even modeled his motion off Lincecum's to avoid throwing side-arm.

Tong's numbers in the minors are incredibly impressive. This season in the minors he had a 1.43 ERA in 113 and 2/3 innings pitched with a whopping 179 strikeouts. In 247 and 2/3 career innings in the minors he has 377 strikeouts so he clearly has some incredible raw stuff to work with.

Lincecum was one of the premier strikeout pitchers of his day as he had 1,736 strikeouts in 1,682 innings pitched. For three straight seasons from 2008 to 2010 he led the league in strikeouts with 757 batters set down on strikes in that period.

Giants fans might understandably chafe at any comparisons between the beloved, rarely seen in public, Lincecum. Tong has a couple Cy Youngs and World Series rings to win before he can be in the same conversation as Lincecum, not to mention some no-hitters.

Yet, it is still pretty interesting to see a guy with any similarities to Lincecum since he was such a unicorn and one-of-a-kind. He still is, but it will be worth watching Tong develop over the course of his career to see how well he can do with his Lincecum-inspired delivery.

Heck, maybe president of baseball operations Buster Posey can get a little crazy and try to swing a trade for Tong to give the Giants some much-needed help in their rotation which could use a promising young arm.

For now though, Giants fans can watch from afar to see how Tong's career progresses and see the kind of pitcher that he turns into.

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