Meet the Prospect (Madison Bumgarner)

In the Sporting News edition, dated September 28, 2009 was an article entitled Meet the Prospect: Madison Bumgarner.

Who he is: The 10th overall pick in the 2007 draft. Bumgarner made his major league debut on 9/8/09, a month after his 20th birthday. Pitching this season at Advanced Class A and Class AA, Bumgarner went 12-2 with a 1.85 ERA, which puts his career minor league numbers at 27-5 and 1.65. Not too shabby.

Scouting Report: Bumgarne has ace stuff and throws in the mid-90s from a deceptive release point. He needs to tighten his slider and do a better job of hitting his spots down in the zone, but he has the potential to be a front-of-the-rotation starter. Expect him to win a permanent big league rotation spot by mid 2010, if not earlier.

Bumgarner says: The one thing I'm concentrating on improving is throwing breaking balls for strikes and having confidence in them.

His team won the Sally League championship last year and the one thing he cannot live without is his faith. He's a christian and that's a big part of his life.

With the Lord as Bumgarner's shepherd, hopefully the sky is the limit for the success he can attain while in the major leagues.

(thanks to the Sporting News for a little information on an up-and-coming player in the Giants organization.)

Kevin Marquez