Madison Bumgarner’s latest home run put him in elite company
Opposing pitchers may want to reconsider their strategy when throwing to San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner. While Bumgarner hasn’t hit for a high average over his career, he’s shown some impressive pop. That was on display once again Thursday, as Bumgarner smashed a two-run shot against the Atlanta Braves.
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The blast was Bumgarner’s second home run of the season, and his 11th over the past three years. Pretty good for a pitcher, right? Actually, we may no longer have to use that caveat when it comes to Bumgarner.
Yes, that insane stat is true. Over their last 190 plate appearances, Bumgarner has hit as many home runs as both Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. It’s still pretty early in the year, but that might be our favorite fun fact this season.
Bumgarner and his career .180 batting average isn’t anywhere close to as talented a hitter as either Harper or Trout, but opposing managers might want to rethink their strategy when it comes to facing him. Instead of allowing their pitchers to groove fastballs down the middle of the plate, they might want to consider pitching to Bumgarner as if he were an actual position player.
That doesn’t mean managers are going to start playing the match-ups in the late innings when Bumgarner comes to the plate, but he might see more first-pitch breaking balls or well-located fastballs on the corner.
With most pitchers, throwing the ball straight down the pipe is a good strategy. And even in Bumgarner’s case, it’s not like he gets hits all that often. But every once and a while, he’ll punish a mistake down the middle and make the pitcher pay.
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Bumgarner has always been a power pitcher on the mound, so maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he would be a power hitter at the plate.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
