5 reasons Madison Bumgarner should participate in the Home Run Derby

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA – JULY 25: Madison Bumgarner #40 of the San Francisco Giants hits a solo home run in the third inning against the Oakland Athletics at AT&T Park on July 25, 2015 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) /

4. Elite Home Run Rate

Who has the best home run rate over the past two years? Mike Trout, Josh Donaldson, Yoenis Cespedes, and Albert Pujols would all be great answers, but they would all be wrong. Bumgarner currently has a higher HR Rate than all of them, with a 6.0% mark. In fact, his percentage would rank him in a tie for number 39 all-time in that category, in a tie with Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews.

Bumgarner hits home runs at the same clip as some of the best young hitters in baseball, all while doing it without the amount of practice they get. In fact, as of June 6, he has the same amount of home runs in his last 190 at-bats as Bryce Harper and Mike Trout, which is pretty elite company.

Just to be clear, Bumgarner is not the kind of power hitter these players are, but he does have elite power when he runs into one. Petco Park does not have a history of being friendly to any hitter, even though they moved in the outfield fences, so in order for a pitcher to be able to compete competitively they need to be able to hit them a long way.

Given the same amount of pitches and outs in a Home Run Derby format, there is no reason to think he cannot hang with the big sluggers in Major League Baseball. When you look into his numbers, the percentages would say he would fare very well.

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