Triple-A Fresno righthander Tim Lincecum whiffed 14 in his last start against Colorado Springs, getting Sky Sox third baseman Ian Stewart twice.

And it’s not like Stewart is struggling this season. A 2003 first-round pick of the Rockies, Stewart is hitting .318/.375/.409 with a pair of home runs in 88 at-bats.

The 22-year-old third baseman calls Lincecum ‘the toughest pitcher I ever faced,’ and goes further in this breakdown of what it’s like to face him:

“Oh, man that was hard,” Stewart said. “He’s just a max-effort guy with a really different windup and you can’t see the ball at all until it’s right on top of you. It gets on you real quick.

“He kind of leans back over second base and then comes right over the top. Guys on our club who have been in the big leagues said he’s the toughest guy they ever faced too, so that should tell you something.

“And though you only get a very short glance of the ball before it’s on you, the stuff is just nasty on top of that. He was throwing everything for strikes. I mean he located everything and painted the corners with his fastball, worked on the inner half when he felt like it.

“His curveball was really good, a good hard-breaking spike curveball. He threw it for a first-pitch strike, a second-pitch strike, a third-pitch strike. You get the idea–he pretty much threw it whenever he wanted to and located it wherever he wanted to.

“I’m not really sure why he’s down here, but for a guy who was drafted last year . . . that guy is filthy.”