It may only be spring training, but that isn’t stopping Madison Bumgarner from bringing his usual intensity to the mound.
Bumgarner got into it with new Chicago Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward during a spring training game on Thursday. Bumgarner struck out Heyward looking on a cutter in the top of the fourth. After the strikeout, Bumgarner saw Heyward glance down to teammate Dexter Fowler at second, prompting the pitcher to bark at Heyward:
You talking to #MadBUM ? @SFGiants #SFGSpring pic.twitter.com/b1NP7GQvF4
— SFGifs (@SFGifs) March 25, 2016
Bumgarner appeared to ask in a confrontational way if Heyward was looking at him. Players then started to chirp afterwards, but nothing happened.
Apparently Bumgarner took Heyward’s glance to Fowler as an indication the Cubs were relaying signs.
“They might want to be a little more discreet about that if you’re going to do that kind of thing,” Bumgarner said afterwards via the San Jose Mercury News’ Andrew Baggarly.
Heyward disputed that, saying he was looking down to Fowler to ask his teammate whether he thought the pitch was a ball or a strike.
As we’ve seen many times, Bumgarner is not one to be messed with, nor is he afraid to confront batters, as this previous video shows.
