The San Francisco Giants Are Going To Let Madison Bumgarner Hit For Himself Instead Of Using A DH In Oakland
Probably one of the most badass baseball headlines you’re going to read today.
Madison Bumgarner don’t need no fuckin’ DH. The San Francisco Giants began a four-game, home and home series against the Oakland A’s on Monday, and the series finale is tonight with MadBum on the mound. Instead of using a designated hitter for Bumgarner, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said that his lefty ace is going to hit. It’s the first time since 1976 that a team has intentionally used a pitcher instead of a DH in their lineup. The Rays fucked up in 2009, so Andy Sonnanstine had to hit instead of a DH against the Indians on May 17 of that year. He actually went 1-for-3 with an RBI double. The Chicago White Sox intentionally let Ken Brett hit against the Twins in ’76. Brett was actually a .262 career hitter, and had 10 homers over the 373 plate appearances spanning 14 seasons.
Here’s a stat for you. Bumgarner has 11 home runs over his last 201 plate appearances dating back to April 11, 2014. Mike Trout has 10 home runs over his last 203 plate appearances, Bryce Harper has 6 home runs over his last 201 plate appearances, Jose Bautista has 9 home runs in his last 204 plate appearances, and David Ortiz has 12 home runs in his last 200 plate appearances. Bumgarner is hitting a home run once every 16.45 at-bats since April 11, 2014. Based on that rate, if he got 600 at-bats in a season, that projects to a 36 home run season, which is why he wants to be in the Home Run Derby, and probably should be.