Editors Note: You can check out Madison Bumgarner’s first two home runs of the 2017 season here and here. What follows is a post from the 2016 season.
Madison Bumgarner can do a lot really impressive things, pitching chief among them.
But, as it turns out, he isn’t too bad of a hitter, either:
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That home run was already Bumgarner’s second of the 2016 season and his 11th since the beginning of the 2014 season.
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In fact, those 11 home runs yield a pretty fascinating stat:
Yes, it’s true.
We can’t believe it either. (h/t @theaceofspaeder) pic.twitter.com/0twG75CDiE
— MLB Stat of the Day (@MLBStatoftheDay) June 2, 2016
In each of their last 190 plate appearances, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper (arguably two of the best hitters in the game right now) have the same number of home runs (11) as Giants’ pitcher Madison Bumgarner. That is completely bonkers, but perhaps not really that unexpected. Over his last three seasons, Bumgarner has put up ISOs of .212, .221 and now .219 in 2016 – those are legitimate slugger-level statistics.
And Bumgarner is aware of all of this, because now, he wants to be in the 2016 Home Run Derby (and he might have a case). Check out this display of power he put on in batting practice:
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Bumgarner spoke with ESPN’s Buster Olney claiming that he “absolutely” wants to participate in this year’s Home Run Derby at Petco Park, and I gotta say: I’d love to see him do it. I know he’s a pitcher and there are probably other, more deserving candidates, but he has a natural ability and it would be so much fun to watch.
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At least one divisional rival agrees:
http://twitter.com/yungjoc650/status/739632127273144320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I really hope this happens.