Madison Bumgarner wants to be a part of the Home Run Derby. The San Francisco Giants ace is lobbying for a spot with both his words and bat.
Let’s hope that the powers to be can make this happen.
As impressive as it is to watch the biggest sluggers in the game routinely hit home runs that push (or exceed) 500 feet, the Home Run Derby can get a little stale after a while. After a few long bombs have been hit, they begin to get repetitive.
Once that happens, there’s really only so much that Chris Berman and his 40-plus year old pop culture references can do to make it entertaining.
Throwing a pitcher in there changes that. It breaks the norm. At least in the short term, that’s a good thing.
Additionally, it’s not as though Bumgarner would be in there without a chance. As Buster Olney said, not many regular players hit balls as far as Bumgarner in batting practice. He’s hit 11 homers over the last three seasons with two of those coming against Clayton Kershaw. In his entire career, only Adam Dunn, Troy Tulowitzki, and Chris Denorfia have taken Kershaw deep more than twice.
There are plenty of reasons why this should happen. If Bumgarner wants to do it, there really aren’t any reasons why it shouldn’t. Here’s hoping that come July 11, Bumgarner will be taking aim at Petco Park’s Western Metal Supply Co. building.