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From Jonah Keri
5. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Since his first day in the big leagues, Madison Bumgarner has always been overshadowed by more famous pitching teammates. He made his major league debut in 2009, as Tim Lincecum was wrapping up his second consecutive Cy Young award. When Lincecum's star began to fade, Matt Cain emerged as the acknowledged ace of the staff. Ryan Vogelsong became the better story, disappearing from the majors for five years before emerging as one of the National League's stingiest starters in 2011. Even Barry Zito, long ridiculed for the monster contract he got (for which the Giants owners deserve most of the blame), upended Bumgarner on the sports pages with his huge run late last season and into the playoffs.
But at this point, Bumgarner has seized the reins, emerging as the best pitcher on a very talented but also evolving staff.
His talents were on full display Saturday. Facing a Braves lineup that whiffs a lot but also scares you to death with its league-leading power, Bumgarner was a human buzz saw. He struck out 11 in seven innings, including a career-high six batters with his curveball, all six of those swinging. Braves hitters took 53 swings against Bumgarner's pitches, putting just 14 of them into play — good for a season-low 26 percent in-play rate for Bumgarner. The Braves swung and missed on 16 pitches, tying Bumgarner's season best.
That start pushed Bumgarner into some elite company. He ranks ninth in the NL in strikeout-to-walk rate at 4.2-to-1. He sits tied for fourth in the NL in Wins Above Replacement, trailing only early fireballs Adam Wainwright, Matt Harvey, and Jordan Zimmermann. He's working on career bests in strikeout percentage, whiff rate, first-strike percentage, and making hitters swing at pitches out of the strike zone. His slider has been nearly unhittable yet again but it's hardly his only dominant pitch, with Bumgarner's curve owning the day Saturday, his fastball working well throughout the early season, and his changeup also settling in as an above-average pitch.
The Giants have plenty of reason for optimism this year, from Buster Posey chasing another MVP-caliber season to Hunter Pence rediscovering his power strike, Brandon Crawford angling for a breakout year, Zito continuing his late-career surge, Lincecum bouncing back from some hard times, and the back of the bullpen looking solid yet again. But the discovery of a new ace, one who's younger than Stephen Strasburg, Matt Harvey, Matt Moore, Tony Cingrani, and Patrick Corbin, and signed to one of the most attractive contracts in the game, should inspire more optimism than just about anything else. Even if that optimism remains somewhat quiet.
5. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Since his first day in the big leagues, Madison Bumgarner has always been overshadowed by more famous pitching teammates. He made his major league debut in 2009, as Tim Lincecum was wrapping up his second consecutive Cy Young award. When Lincecum's star began to fade, Matt Cain emerged as the acknowledged ace of the staff. Ryan Vogelsong became the better story, disappearing from the majors for five years before emerging as one of the National League's stingiest starters in 2011. Even Barry Zito, long ridiculed for the monster contract he got (for which the Giants owners deserve most of the blame), upended Bumgarner on the sports pages with his huge run late last season and into the playoffs.
But at this point, Bumgarner has seized the reins, emerging as the best pitcher on a very talented but also evolving staff.
His talents were on full display Saturday. Facing a Braves lineup that whiffs a lot but also scares you to death with its league-leading power, Bumgarner was a human buzz saw. He struck out 11 in seven innings, including a career-high six batters with his curveball, all six of those swinging. Braves hitters took 53 swings against Bumgarner's pitches, putting just 14 of them into play — good for a season-low 26 percent in-play rate for Bumgarner. The Braves swung and missed on 16 pitches, tying Bumgarner's season best.
That start pushed Bumgarner into some elite company. He ranks ninth in the NL in strikeout-to-walk rate at 4.2-to-1. He sits tied for fourth in the NL in Wins Above Replacement, trailing only early fireballs Adam Wainwright, Matt Harvey, and Jordan Zimmermann. He's working on career bests in strikeout percentage, whiff rate, first-strike percentage, and making hitters swing at pitches out of the strike zone. His slider has been nearly unhittable yet again but it's hardly his only dominant pitch, with Bumgarner's curve owning the day Saturday, his fastball working well throughout the early season, and his changeup also settling in as an above-average pitch.
The Giants have plenty of reason for optimism this year, from Buster Posey chasing another MVP-caliber season to Hunter Pence rediscovering his power strike, Brandon Crawford angling for a breakout year, Zito continuing his late-career surge, Lincecum bouncing back from some hard times, and the back of the bullpen looking solid yet again. But the discovery of a new ace, one who's younger than Stephen Strasburg, Matt Harvey, Matt Moore, Tony Cingrani, and Patrick Corbin, and signed to one of the most attractive contracts in the game, should inspire more optimism than just about anything else. Even if that optimism remains somewhat quiet.
