Phenom Madison Bumgarner Gets Mixed Reviews in Debut

SAN FRANCISCO -- Depending on who you ask, Madison Bumgarner's much-anticipated big league debut was a success or a failure.

Bumgarner, who got the emergency start on Tuesday night against the Padres because of Tim Lincecum's back spasms, was good enough to hold down the Padres into the sixth inning. He was good enough to leave with a one-run lead, and to a standing ovation, in a game that Giants would eventually lose 4-3.

However, to anyone who was expecting to see the eye-popping stuff of a premium prospect, the 20-year-old left something to be desired.
"I'm disappointed," said a scout who was at the game. "I'm not impressed. I couldn't write him up based on this. I couldn't tell you what his out pitch is. The one thing I was impressed with was his mound presence. He looks like a big leaguer."

At the beginning of the year, Bumgarner was ranked by Baseball America as the fourth-best pitching prospect in baseball. The three ahead of him (David Price, Brett Anderson and Tommy Hanson) have all been in the majors for most of the season. Bumgarner's statistics at Single-A and Double A (12-2, 1.85 ERA) did nothing to detract from his reputation.

That's why there was so much excitement for his debut on Tuesday, even though it came at the expense of Lincecum. There was a roar from the crowd when he was introduced.

"I didn't think anyone knew who I was," he said, "but it seemed like everyone did."

When he took the mound, though, it was quickly apparent to the scouts behind the plate that something was missing. They wondered what happened to the kid who was throwing 95 mph in spring training and early in the season?

Another scout who had seen Bumgarner a few times since spring training said that he had seen him as far back as July throwing only around 88-90 mph.

"I guess maybe I'm getting a little tired," Bumgarner said. "I don't feel it, but I guess that's what's happening. It's hard to say."

Manager Bruce Bochy said that Bumgarner made do with the velocity he had.

"He pitched with it," Bochy said. "He's a smart kid. It's getting toward the end of the season. He's young. He feels fine. That's what he pitched at and I thought he did a good job with that. We're not caught up in the velocity right now."

Bumgarner's first fastball of the game was 91 mph, and after that he spent most of the night in the upper 80s, including the two fastballs that got deposited into the left-field bleachers, by Chase Headley and Kevin Kouzmanoff.

Those two homers were the only runs he allowed in 5 1/3 innings of the Giants biggest game of the year (till the next one), so it's not fair to be too tough on him.

After all, in the majors, the idea is to get outs, not necessarily to look pretty doing it. For a big-league debut on short notice and for a guy who became the youngest active player in the majors, he did that.

"I thought he did a nice job," Bochy said. "He gave us what we wanted, gave us what we needed."