NEWSLETTER
Nothing ushers in the return of baseball’s regular season like pitchers socking dingers on Opening Day.
Enter noted slugger Madison Bumgarner:
MadBum with the BIG FLY on #OpeningDay.#WeAreSF pic.twitter.com/xjaCVoZsUB
— 120 Sports (@120Sports) April 2, 2017
[adinserter block=”1″]
Bumgarner’s blast left the bat at 112 mph, making it the hardest-hit home run by a Giants player since September 2015. Not a pitcher on the Giants, mind you – any Giants player. He also owns the three hardest-hit homers by pitchers in MLB’s Statcast era.
Go on and flex, Bum. You’ve earned it.
Madison Bumgarner's 112.5-mph smash is the hardest-hit HR by a pitcher in the #Statcast era.
He now has the top 3. https://t.co/Z9xEAB7ojX pic.twitter.com/VZOSi83uum
— #Statcast (@statcast) April 2, 2017
As for Zack Greinke, well, it’s been a rough go go of it. If you remember, he was the guy on the mound earlier this Spring, when Jake Arietta broke his own record for the longest home run hit by a pitcher.
In fact, for the past two seasons, Jake Arrieta and Madison Bumgarner have been the most elite hitting pitchers in baseball, and they even almost made their way into the Home Run Derby … like, for real).
[adinserter block=”2″]
Last season, the Cubs’ ace, Arrieta, came out on top as the best overall hitting pitcher in baseball, but Bumgarner came in a close second, and almost always finishes near the top.
But even though Arrieta may be the reigning champ (and has homered off both Bumgarner AND Greinke in the past six months), Bumgarner has gotten off to quite a start.
Maybe these two pitchers took a couple of former Cy Young’s advice:
BIF: Even Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux Admit That Chicks Dig the Long Ball (1999) https://t.co/5mg6VA9zKE
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) January 15, 2017
It’s gonna be a great year.
Michael Cerami contributed to this post.
[adinserter block=”3″]
