He still looks as if he should be riding a skateboard or bagging your groceries — until he stands on the pitcher’s mound, where he winds up, throws and embarrasses batters.

To examine Tim Lincecum in the flesh three years ago is to understand why he was slighted by numerous baseball organizations.
To see Lincecum’s statistics today is to realize they ignored what should be the most critical aspect of talent evaluation: Production.
One look at Lincecum at the University of Washington in 2006 invited all kinds of troubling questions for baseball people. He was skinny, not very tall and had shaggy hair atop the face of a teenager. And that windup, well, what the hell was that?
And then the little twit had the temerity to announce he would not be changing his odd pitching motion.
Adding up their concerns, teams bailed on Lincecum, even though he led the nation in strikeouts and won the Golden Spikes Award, the Heisman Trophy of college baseball.
Personnel types tend to shy away from small pitchers, especially when his delivery is something from another planet. Lincecum didn’t look strong enough, which led some to conclude he wouldn’t be durable enough.
The Giants, persuaded by scout Matt Woodward, trusted what they saw. They looked beyond measureables and focused on results. Willing to let Tim be Tim, they made him the 10th overall pick in the ’06 draft. Their reward is a right-hander who has become the boyish face of baseball and the San Francisco’s most magnetic mound presence since Juan Marichal.
Yet Lincecum, who last month turned 25, looks much the same as when he was 21. He’s still 5-foot-11, though he has added about 10 pounds, bulking up to 170.
Now, however, the organizations drafting the six pitchers taken before Lincecum can only wring their hands.
They missed. Some missed badly. Others would have missed, if they had the chance.
But if they open their minds, they might learn something. Or re-learn something.
When evaluating talent, size is not a reliable factor. When presented with a unique gift, consider letting it stay unique — whether it’s a quarterback’s sidearm delivery or a small forward’s strange jump shot — as long as it works.
There is enough history to back up the scout who has faith in his eyesight, for the list of those who have excelled doing it their way may be as long as the list of promising jocks who were tinkered with and failed.
Think the scout who in the 1960s gave a contract to a 5-7, 145-pound kid from Castlemont High could have known Joe Morgan would play his way into the Hall of Fame?
But some notions die hard. Right-hander Luke Hochevar was drafted No. 1 overall in ’06 partly because he’s 6-3 and weighed 205 pounds. Greg Reynolds, taken second by Colorado, is 6-7, 225 pounds. Brad Lincoln, taken fourth overall by Pittsburgh, is only 5-11, 180 pounds but displayed a smooth, conventional delivery. No. 5 pick Brandon Morrow, taken by Seattle, is 6-3, 180, No. 6 pick Andrew Miller (Detroit) is 6-6, 210 and seventh pick Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers) is 6-3, 210.
These six physical specimens combined to go 22-39 last season; Lincecum won the Cy Young Award
These six are a combined 10-15 this year, Lincecum is 8-2, the favorite to start the All-Star Game and coming off three complete games in four starts.
While Lincecum has made every scheduled start since joining San Francisco’s rotation in May 2007, four of the others have been dogged by injuries; Lincoln underwent Tommy John surgery two years ago.
The Mariners, Lincecum’s hometown team, chose Morrow — a diagnosed diabetic with ideal height — over the scrawny kid with the goofy windup.
“I can fully understand the box Seattle was in, because he’s a local kid,” Giants general manager Brian Sabean says. “I’m sure they saw him as much as anybody.
“But there are reasons you do or don’t do things. At times, you have to step out. In our case, we really thought he had passed the tests at the lower level. He was so dominant down there we figured he wouldn’t be in the minor leagues very long.”
Lil’ Tim made 13 minor league starts, pitching 62 2/3 innings, striking out 104, walking 23 and allowing 26 hits.
He has been only slightly less dominant in the bigs.
Though it’s still common to see athletes who don’t look the part being disregarded in favor of one who does, this guy ought to convince a few more personnel men in all sports to take their preconceived notions and shove ’em.