Tim Lincecum, the baseball standout who led the Liberty High School Patriots to the 3A state baseball tournament in 2003, has won the National League’s Cy Young Award, as the best pitcher in baseball.

After graduating from Liberty, Lincecum, 24, went on to play at the University of Washington, where in 2004 he was named Freshman of the Year and Pitcher of the Year in the Pac-10. He was an All-American in 2006. Lincecum owns a Pac-10 record with 491 career strikeouts in just three seasons as a Husky.

This is only his second season with the San Francisco Giants. In his rookie season of 2007, Lincecum went 7-5 with an ERA of 4.00 in 24 games with 150 strikeouts in 146 1/3 innings.

In 2008, he went 18-5, leading the league with 265 strikeouts in 227 innings. His ERA was 2.62

Lincecum made a trip back to Renton last December to sign autographs at DJ Sportscards in the Highlands.