Madison Bumgarner About To Take Next Step With San Francisco Giants

Madison Bumgarner has proved over the past two seasons for the San Francisco Giants that he is a solid MLB pitcher. Bumgarner has two World Series rings to show for his fine effort and he will start this season as the No. 2 starter for San Francisco. I believe that this could be the season where Bumgarner takes another step forward for the Giants and potentially could make a run at 20 wins for the first time in his career.

Bumgarner is just 23 years old and was 16-11 in 2012 with a 3.37 ERA. The fact that always gets me about Bumgarner is how good he has been in his World Series starts. Bumgarner has started twice, pitched 15 scoreless innings and given up just five combined hits. It is those kinds of numbers that got Bumgarner a long-term deal before the 2012 season even began. I think that Bumgarner has enough offense behind him and a funky enough pitching style to become even better this season.

Bumgarner had 13 wins in 2011 before his 16-win season last year. The ERA is something that could come down just a little bit, but I think Bumgarner is going to prove he is one of the aces on the San Francisco pitching staff by year’s end. There are really no more consistent pitchers than Bumgarner has been recently. He deserved the big contract and deserves to be higher in the rotation than a pitcher like Tim Lincecum while the struggles of Lincecum continue. This has the real potential to be a special season for Bumgarner.

Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports, like his Facebook page or add him to your network on Google.