Madison Bumgarner: Slugger

Some time towards the end of my conversation with Madison Bumgarner last week, I couldn’t resist making a comment about his hitting. He does lead all pitchers in Wins Above Replacement as a batter, after all. (He also leads them in weighted runs created, weighted on base average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, isolated slugging percentage, batting average, home runs, runs, and RBI, so it’s been a good season at the plate.)

That excellence deserved some mention. When I asked him about it, he smiled.

“Sometimes I’ll go mess with some of my buddies on the team about who’s getting hits,” Bumgarner said. His WAR as a position player is eighth-best on the team! Better than regulars Brandon Belt and Michael Morse even. His wRC+ is seventh-best. Imagine being a position player and having a starting pitcher give you guff about hitting. Especially a Cy-worthy pitcher.

“I just try to — whether it’s pitching or hitting — I just try to stay with my strengths.” So, power? “Guess so, guess you could say that.” he laughed.

It’s not quite legendary power — Mike Hampton hit seven homers to Bumgarner’s four, and the Bumgarner’s ISO is about 17th on the list since 2000. He’s behind such pitcher-hitting luminaries as former position player Jorge Sosa, two-way player Micah Owings, Dontrelle Willis, and … Joe Nathan, whose .229 ISO leads all pitchers in hitting since 2000.

But Bumgarner is a good hitter, who admits to asking the hitters for scouting reports before he walks to the plate. He’s also all about hitting the ball hard, strikeouts be damned (he has a 37.2% strikeout rate this year). Enough to make Vin Scully take notice, as he told Alex Pavlovic that “the last pitcher who swung that hard was Babe Ruth.”

Might as well swing hard. It’s not like he’s going to get on base with that 2.6% walk rate. And nobody expects the pitcher to be a power threat. One more thing to watch for today.





With a phone full of pictures of pitchers' fingers, strange beers, and his two toddler sons, Eno Sarris can be found at the ballpark or a brewery most days. Read him here, writing about the A's or Giants at The Athletic, or about beer at October. Follow him on Twitter @enosarris if you can handle the sandwiches and inanity.

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Pennsy
9 years ago

National League Baseball, best Baseball. Watching a hundred pitchers flail miserably is absolutely worth the ability to appreciate the diamonds in the rough that have the ability to do just about everything on a baseball diamond.