Old-school Bumgarner likes pitch timer, new rules
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Madison Bumgarner was happy to get his first Cactus League begin of the spring out of the way in which Sunday as he received in three innings in opposition to the Guardians in a 6-4 D-backs win at Goodyear Ballpark.
“First one of the year, even for me, it still moves faster than others,” Bumgarner stated. “Kind of reevaluate after this one, and the next one will hopefully be a little better, and we can work on what shows up.”
This one undoubtedly moved quicker, because it was Bumgarner’s first expertise with Major League Baseball’s new pitch timer, an adaptation that the notoriously old-school Bumgarner is simply nice with.
“Out of all the rules changes [over my career], I probably like this one the most,” Bumgarner stated.
Bumgarner allowed two runs on two hits whereas additionally hitting a pair of batters.
“Like the first one,” Bumgarner stated when requested how he felt. “There’s a lot of new stuff, aside from it just being the first one. I was pretty happy with it. Happy to get the three ups, that was the main goal. Felt good with the pace. Using the PitchCom and all that stuff. Not bad for the first time.”
Bumgarner referred to as his personal pitches for a part of the sport, utilizing a PitchCom system connected to his belt. It’s one thing he’s been desirous to experiment with and at last received the prospect to do in a recreation.
“I like it,” Bumgarner stated. “I’m going to work on where I put it. I put it on my belt. Might try the glove next time. It might be a little easier. I wish we could have a microphone and we could just talk to each other. That would be perfect, I think. But we’re going in the right direction.”
Bumgarner would simply as quickly neglect concerning the 2022 season, when following a robust begin, he struggled and tried quite a lot of adjustments to get again on monitor.
This winter, he stated he dropped “a few” kilos, however that his weight has at all times fluctuated between 240 and 260 kilos. This 12 months he stated he’s nearer to 240.
Since signing a five-year take care of the D-backs previous to 2020, Bumgarner is 15-29 with a 4.98 ERA in 65 begins, however these struggles don’t issue into how he approaches Spring Training.
“Treating it like a normal spring,” Bumgarner stated. “Just trying to get ready. I’ve done it a while. I do know what it takes. You guys know that the last couple years — pretty much my entire time here — hasn’t been what I want it to be. But I’m not focused on that. I’m focused on this year and the years to come.”
