Pitcher Madison Bumgarner makes his case for the home run derby with an insane BP session [Video]
Madison Bumgarner wants to take part in Major League Baseball’s home run derby next month.
No pitcher has ever participated in the annual event before, but the San Francisco Giants star made a pretty good case for himself on Sunday, turning batting practice at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium into his own person home run derby before his team’s game against the Cardinals.
Bumgarner sent at least a dozen balls over the outfield wall, including two into the third level of seats and one into the fourth deck.
"I want to do it," Bumgarner told ESPN of participating in the home run derby.
The Giants ace leads all active pitchers with 13 career home runs, and he has two this season. MLB tweeted last week that Bumgarner had the same number of home runs (11) in his last 190 plate appearances as 2015 National League MVP Bryce Harper and 2014 American League MVP Mike Trout in theirs.
And how much fun would it be to see a pitcher up there swinging away against the best sluggers in the league?
Pretty much only one thing stands in Bumgarner’s way – the risk of injury.
“I couldn't let him do it," Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. "We couldn't let him do it."
Which is too bad, Bochy added. "He's convinced he could win it," Bochy said. "I think he would wear himself down in the first round, he'd try to hit it so hard."
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