Friday, January 2, 2009

Madison Bumgarner 2009

Who? If you haven't been following the lower minor leagues, then you probably haven't heard of Madison Bumgarner...yet. He's only 19 years old, and pitched at in A ball in the San Francisco Giants system. His performance in 2008 was dominating. 164 strikeouts and only 21 walks in 141.2 innings pitched. He also allowed only 3 home runs, which could indicate that he keeps the ball on the ground...or could just indicate that he was a whole lot better than the batters he was facing. It's always hard to project such young players facing weak competition, but Bumgarner obviously bears close watching as he moves through the minor leagues. I'd expect him to put up excellent numbers again in 2009, probably beginning the season at AA. Keep an eye on whether his strikeout rate remains well above one per innings for a clue as to whether he's a future star.

1 comment:

Goose Joak said...

Spot on, I now think he's one to watch and thanks for the heads up. If the Giants land Manny, and somehow manage to contend in the NL West, I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the roster in a limited, swing man role ala Max Scherzer in 2008.