Madison Bumgarner (born August 1, 1989) is a left-handed pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. Bumgarner is listed 6'4" and 215 pounds and has a fastball that has been clocked between 89-95 MPH. Bumgarner was drafted out of South Caldwell High School in Hudson, North Carolina where he led them to a 4A State Championship in 2007. He was selected tenth overall by the Giants in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft. Going into the draft, Baseball America had ranked him as the fourteenth best prospect overall. He was the first high school pitcher to be selected by the Giants with their first pick since Matt Cain in 2002, the first left-handed pitcher selected in the first round by the organization since Noah Lowry in 2001, the first left-handed pitcher taken as the first pick by the organization since Mike Remlinger in 1987, and the first high-school left-hander the Giants drafted in the first round since Frank Riccelli in 1971.

In 2008, Baseball America ranked him the third best prospect in the Giants organization.

Bumgarner pitched for the Augusta Greenjackets, the Giants' Low-A minor league affiliate, in 2008. He began the 2009 season with the Giants' high-A affiliate, the San Jose Giants, has recently been called up to the Giants AA affiliate the Connecticut Defenders. Bumgarner has played with other top Giants' prospects Buster Posey, Angel Villalona, and Nick Noonan. He was called up to the majors on September 8, 2009, to make his first major league start and debut for Tim Lincecum who was scratched with back spasms. At the age of 20, he became the second youngest pitcher ever to start a game in Giants since it moved west in 1958, older only than Mike McCormick started for San Francisco as a 19-year-old, made his debut two years earlier when the team franchise was New York.^[1][2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Minorleaguebaseball.com 2007 Draft Report
• Giants go young in Draft's first round
• Connecticut Defenders Profile
• Baseball America Top 10 Prospects List