Madison Bumgarner is comfortably among the top handful of pitchers in Major League Baseball. He’s also about as good a hitting pitcher as you’ll see.
In 2014, Bumgarner hit .258 with four home runs and 15 runs batted in. He followed that up by posting a .247 average with five home runs and nine driven in 2015. Among the pitchers Bumgarner took deep last year was Clayton Kershaw. On Saturday, Bumgarner did it again.
The home run was No. 12 for Bumgarner in his career, which is pretty impressive in itself. It’s even more impressive when you consider two have come off of Kershaw. Bumgarner has hit one off of Zack Greinke as well. Just ahead of Bumgarner is Babe Ruth, who hit 14 during his days as a pitcher.
The most home runs in a season by a pitcher is nine, by Wes Ferrell. That may not be out of reach for the 2014 World Series MVP.
