Diamondbacks: What to watch for in Madison Bumgarner’s return vs Giants

Arizona Diamondbacks starter Madison Bumgarner is back and facing off against a familiar team.

Earlier this week, the Arizona Diamondbacks announced that starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner would be returning from the Injured List on Saturday to take on his former team, the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.

Bumgarner has made 140 career starts at Oracle Park, but this will be the first time he has ever climbed the mound for the visiting team.

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It’s sure to be an odd, yet important day for Madison Bumgarner. The Bumgarner who will take the mound on Saturday night is not the same Bumgarner who won three World Series rings with the Giants and won 119 games with a 3.13 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and 1,794 strikeouts in 289 career outings with the Giants.

Signed to a five-year deal worth $85 million in the offseason, Bumgarner won’t have the backdrop of a stadium full of fans who once lived and breathed with each of pitches for 11 seasons, but he is making his return to San Francisco in desperate need of turning things around for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Before going down to injury with back spasms, Bumgarner made four disastrous starts for Arizona.

Bumgarner is currently 0-3 with a 9.35 ERA, a 1.56 WHIP, a .278 average against, and is striking out just under 16% of hitters while walking more than 8%. His last outing came against the San Diego Padres in which he lasted just two innings, giving up four home runs and six total runs before being removed.

Don’t expect to see Bumgarner go very deep into this outing, but there are a few things to pay close attention to on Saturday night.

What does Bumgarner’s fastball velocity look like? He averaged 91.4 mph on his four-seam fastball last season but has seen that number drop significantly to 87.8 mph in 2020. It’s certainly possible that the back issues have been there since the season started and the dip in velo is a result of that, but what if we’re seeing the new Madison Bumgarner.

If pitching in your first start back in San Francisco, even in an empty stadium, doesn’t get the juices flowing and fastball velocity numbers up, I’m not sure what will at this point.

The swing and miss stuff hasn’t been there for Bumgarner this season, but he can still be effective in his outing against the Giants. If he can keep the ball on the ground (just a 23% GB rate), stay away from walking guys, and let his defense work behind him Bumgarner can have a successful outing.

After selling off numerous pieces at the deadline, the Arizona Diamondbacks aren’t looking to make a playoff run this year, but they do need their high-priced free agent signing to turn things around. What better way to do it than against his former team in what is sure to be an emotional outing.