Madison Bumgarner
Madison Kyle Bumgarner, nicknamed "MadBum", is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks. Bumgarner won three World Series championships and two Silver Slugger Awards. He was also selected to four National League All-Star teams and has the most strikeouts in franchise history by a Giants left-handed pitcher.
Bumgarner played high school baseball at South Caldwell High School in Hudson, North Carolina, where he helped his team win a 2007 state championship. He was selected with the tenth overall pick in the 2007 MLB draft by the Giants. He and Buster Posey both made their major league debuts in 2009 and established a reputation as one of the best batteries in recent MLB history. Bumgarner pitched eight scoreless innings in Game 4 of the 2010 World Series, helping win the franchise's first World Series in San Francisco and the first since 1954. Two years later, Bumgarner pitched seven more scoreless innings in Game 2 of the 2012 World Series. In 2014, Bumgarner started the Wild Card Game, throwing a shutout against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He set the World Series record for the lowest earned run average in 2014, with an ERA of 0.25, and took home the Most Valuable Player award as the Giants won their third World Series during his time in San Francisco.
Bumgarner won 18 games in 2014 and 2015, and he had a career-high 251 strikeouts in 2016. That fall, he threw his second Wild Card Game shutout, blanking the New York Mets. Injuries interrupted the first half of his next two seasons, a dirt bike accident in 2017 and a broken finger in 2018. Bumgarner led the NL in games started in 2019, with a 9–9 record. A free agent after that season, he signed a five-year, $85 million contract with the Diamondbacks. In 2021, he pitched the third complete game shutout with no hits in franchise history in a 7-inning win over the Atlanta Braves. Arizona released Bumgarner in April 2023. He had a career 134–124 record, 3.47 ERA, and 2,070 strikeouts.
Early life
Madison Kyle Bumgarner was born August 1, 1989, in Hickory, North Carolina, and grew up in an area ten miles northwest nicknamed "Bumtown" because of the abundance of people with the surname Bumgarner who have lived there over the years, after their ancestors had arrived from Germany. He grew up in a log house built by his father, sleeping in a loft. At the age of four, he began playing youth baseball league, for which his father had to sign a waiver because the league was for five- to eight-year-olds. He would not let Madison throw curveballs until he was sixteen. His parents, Kevin and Debbie, divorced while Bumgarner was in high school.Bumgarner attended South Caldwell High School in Hudson, North Carolina, where he was known as "Maddie" and played on both the school's baseball team and the Post 29's American Legion Baseball team. In his junior season, he had a 12–2 win–loss record, an 0.99 earned run average, and 120 strikeouts in 84 innings pitched as he helped his team to a runner-up finish in the 2006 North Carolina 4A State Championship. The next season as a senior, he went 11–2 with a 1.05 ERA and 143 strikeouts in 86 innings, helping his team win the 2007 4A State Championship. He hit.424 with 11 home runs and 38 runs batted in. He was named most valuable player of the playoffs and the Gatorade North Carolina Player of the Year, garnering the nickname "The Carolina Peach." Bumgarner attracted so much attention from scouts and agents in high school that his father built a wall around the bullpen at his high school field to keep them from distracting him as he warmed up. He committed to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a college baseball scholarship.
In 2013, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association included Bumgarner on its "100 To Remember" male athletes list, which included Michael Jordan, Carl Eller, and Jim Beatty.
Professional career
Draft and minor leagues
The San Francisco Giants selected Bumgarner in the first round, with the tenth overall selection, of the 2007 MLB draft. Going into the draft, Baseball America had ranked him as the 14th-best prospect overall. He was the first high school pitcher to be selected as the Giants' first pick since Matt Cain in 2002, and the first left-handed pitcher selected in the first round by the organization since Noah Lowry in 2001. Bumgarner was also the first left-handed pitcher taken as the first pick by the organization since Mike Remlinger in 1987, the first high school left-handed pitcher the Giants drafted in the first round since Frank Riccelli in 1971, and the first high school left-handed pitcher taken as the first pick by the organization since Riccelli in 1971. In many do-overs, Bumgarner would be selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as the first overall pick of the 2007 MLB re-draft.In 2008, Baseball America ranked Bumgarner the third-best prospect in the Giants organization. Bumgarner pitched for the Augusta Greenjackets, the Giants' Low-A South Atlantic League affiliate, in 2008. The Giants had him alter the angle of his head during delivery, but after Bumgarner struggled over his first three starts in Augusta, he reverted to the way he had thrown in high school. With Augusta, he worked on his changeup, slider, and ability to throw effectively on the inside part of the plate, a critical trait for a pitcher with his side-armed delivery. He won the South Atlantic League pitchers' Triple Crown, tying for the league lead in wins, leading the league in ERA, and leading the league in strikeouts.
Before the start of the 2009 season, the magazine ranked Bumgarner as the ninth-best prospect in baseball. He began the 2009 season with the Giants' High-A affiliate, the San Jose Giants of the California League. After five starts, in which he went 3–1 with a 1.48 ERA and 23 strikeouts, he was called up to the Giants AA affiliate, the Connecticut Defenders of the Eastern League. On July 22, he hit a grand slam against Eric Niesen and picked up the victory in a 9–3 triumph over the Binghamton Mets. In 20 games with them, he went 9–1 with a 1.93 ERA and 69 strikeouts.
Entering 2010, Bumgarner attended the Giants' spring training before the season, competing for the position of fifth starter. He dropped to the fourteenth-best prospect in baseball on the magazine's list, as some writers were concerned about a drop in Bumgarner's velocity. Out of shape entering the new season, he struggled and was sent down to the AAA Fresno Grizzlies, partly due to his loss of velocity. In 14 starts with Fresno, he went 7–1 with a 3.16 ERA and 59 strikeouts.
June 25, 2017, the San Francisco Giants sent Bumgarner on a rehab assignment with the AZL Giants. At the Giants Baseball Complex, he pitched three innings without allowing a hit against the AZL Angels. On June 30, he was sent on another rehab assignment, this one at Raley Field with the Sacramento River Cats against his former team, the Fresno Grizzlies. On July 5, the Giants sent Bumgarner on his third rehab assignment, this one with the San Jose Giants. That day at San Jose Municipal Stadium, he pitched against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. On July 10 at San Jose Municipal Stadium, he pitched against the Modesto Nuts, stiking out eight batters and only allowing two hits.
On May 26, 2018, the Giants sent Bumgarner on a rehab assignment with the Sacramento River Cats. That day at Raley Field, in a 2–0 team win over the Albuquerque Isotopes, Bumgarner started and pitched hitless and scoreless innings, throwing 47 pitches and striking out eight of the 12 batters he faced. On May 31, he was sent on another rehab assignment, this one with the San Jose Giants. That day at San Jose Municipal Stadium, he pitched against the Visalia Rawhide.
San Francisco Giants (2009–2019)
2009
On September 8, 2009, the Giants promoted Bumgarner to the major leagues for his debut in a start against the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park that night. He started in place of ace Tim Lincecum, who was scratched with back spasms. At the age of 20 years and 38 days, he became the second-youngest pitcher ever to start a game for the Giants, older only than Mike McCormick, who started two games for the Giants—as a nineteen-year-old—in 1956, when the team was still in New York. In the bottom of the third inning with no outs, Bumgarner struck out Padres' pitcher Kevin Correia for his first career strikeout. As a rookie, Bumgarner's locker was next to that of future National Baseball Hall of Fame starting pitcher Randy Johnson in his last MLB season. Bumgarner made four appearances with the Giants in 2009, posting an ERA of 1.80 and striking out ten batters in ten innings.2010
On June 26, 2010, Bumgarner was called up again to join the club, facing the Boston Red Sox the next day, where he registered his first career major league hit. Leading off the bottom of the fifth inning and on the first pitch he saw, Bumgarner hit a line drive single to left-center field off of pitcher Manny Delcarmen. He replaced Joe Martinez, who had made one start in place of an injured Todd Wellemeyer, in the starting rotation. The next day, Bumgarner made his first career major league pinch-hitting appearance.On July 6 at Miller Park, in a 6–1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, Bumgarner earned his first major league victory by going eight innings without yielding a run. In the game, he also registered his first MLB run batted in. In the top of the sixth inning and leading 4–0, Bumgarner hit an RBI single through second and first base off of pitcher Randy Wolf, scoring center fielder Aaron Rowand and moving first baseman Travis Ishikawa to third base.
Bumgarner pitched well enough that when Wellemeyer returned from the disabled list in August, Giants Manager Bruce Bochy chose to use Wellemeyer in the bullpen and leave Bumgarner in the rotation.
In five September starts during the Giants' successful run to the National League West championship, Bumgarner posted an earned run average of 1.13. At the end of September, Bumgarner earned his first win at home, making him 7–6 on the season. In 18 starts, Bumgarner finished his rookie season with a win–loss record of 7–6, a 3.00 ERA, and 86 strikeouts. After the season, he was named a starting pitcher on Baseball Americas 2010 All-Rookie Team.
Bumgarner was the number four starting pitcher in the team's postseason rotation, behind Lincecum, Cain, and Sánchez. It is the only postseason starting rotation where every starter pitched at least one complete game no-hit shutout at some point in their careers. The Giants played against the wild card in the NL Division Series. On October 11 at Turner Field, in a 3–2 win over the Atlanta Braves, his childhood team, Bumgarner made his postseason debut in Game 4 of the series, striking out five and pitching six innings to advance the Giants to the NL Championship Series. He became the youngest pitcher in franchise history to appear in, start, and win a playoff game. He was also the sixth-youngest pitcher to appear in a playoff game. On October 23 at Citizens Bank Park, in a 3–2 win over the NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies, in Game 6 of the NLCS, Bumgarner made his first career postseason relief appearance, relieving Jeremy Affeldt and pitching two shutout innings in the fifth and sixth. The Giants won the game to advance to the World Series. On October 31 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, in a 4–0 win over the American League champion Texas Rangers, Bumgarner made his World Series debut, becoming the fifth-youngest pitcher to start a World Series game. In Game 4 of the World Series, Bumgarner and Buster Posey were the first rookie battery to start a World Series game since Spec Shea and Yogi Berra in. Bumgarner pitched eight shutout innings and struck out six batters, including designated hitter and future Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero three times. Bumgarner walked two while allowing only three hits and permitting just one Ranger to reach second base, winning his first career World Series game.
He became the first NL rookie starting pitcher to pitch five scoreless innings in a World Series game since John Stuper of the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 6 of the 1982 World Series against the Brewers. Bumgarner had a chance to become the first rookie pitcher to throw a complete game shutout in a World Series game since the Cleveland Indians' Gene Bearden blanked the Boston Braves 2–0 in Game 3 of the 1948 World Series, but Bumgarner had already thrown 106 pitches. Instead, he turned the ball over to the closer Brian Wilson, who led the majors that season with a franchise record-tying 48 saves and finished Game 4. Fox Sports play-by-play commentator Joe Buck said it was "One of the best pitching performances we've seen in a World Series in a long time certainly from a rookie." Color commentator Tim McCarver said "We talked about Tim Lincecum| Lincecum. We talked about Matt Cain| Cain. We talked about Jonathan Sánchez| Sánchez. The number four starter for the San Francisco Giants won't be number four for long." At 21 years and 91 days old, Bumgarner became the fourth youngest pitcher in major league history all-time to win a World Series game. He was named the Ram Power Player of the Game. Bumgarner's 2.18 ERA in the postseason is the second lowest all-time by a rookie, second to Babe Adams' 1.33 ERA with the 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates. This win gave the Giants a 3–1 lead in the series, en route to the Giants winning their first World Series championship in 56 years since the 1954 World Series—and their first title in 52 years in San Francisco. It was their sixth World Series championship title in franchise history. On November 3, the Giants celebrated their first World Series victory parade in San Francisco.