Bumgarner back in town

Madison Bumgarner is coming home.

The former South Caldwell star and first-round draft pick of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants will take the mound tonight for the Single-A Augusta Greenjackets as they square off with the Hickory Crawdads. Game time is set for 6:30 p.m.

“I've been looking forward to this, getting back to play in front of my friends and family. I hope a lot of people turn out,” Bumgarner said Wednesday.

Bumgarner has allowed 10 runs and struck out 15 batters in his brief stint as a professional (11.2 innings). Through three starts, his record stands at 1-2.

Tonight's appearance marks Bumgarner's first competitive action in North Carolina since he closed out his high school career with a walk-off home run to earn the Spartans the 4-A state title.

Bumgarner's life has changed quite a bit since then.

After being selected No. 10 overall in the nationally televised MLB draft, Bumgarner was awarded a $2 million signing bonus (some of which he used to pay off his mother's house and buy a new truck). He spent spring training mingling with other hotshot pros - even pitching a bullpen session alongside Giants ace Tim Lincecum - and is now adjusting to the day-in, day-out experience of playing baseball for a living.

“It's a blessing,” he says. “There is nothing else like it. It can be the best job and it can be the worst job at the same time.”

Bumgarner insists he has learned a lot in his short time with the Giants organization, mainly about the importance of control and keeping the ball down in the strike zone. He has yet to allow a home run.

“You just can't throw it by everybody now,” Bumgarner says. “If you leave it up or over the plate, it's going to get hit. And hard most of the time.”

His spell with the Greenjackets is mostly a developmental period, a chance for Bumgarner to work on specific pitches and habits rather than focusing on the outcomes. His three-pitch repertoire of fastballs, changeups and sliders has been on full display (His low arm angle prevents him from throwing any kind of dropping curveball). He has been on a strict and gradually increasing pitch count. and will be allotted 75 pitches today.

“We've been working on some different things,” he says. “That's what it's really about, just developing here. You can't get caught up in the numbers.”

Bumgarner makes no bones about his ultimate goal: to pitch in the big leagues. And as soon as possible.

“I was hoping for some time next year,” he says.

With San Francisco's penchant for scooting pitchers through its farm system quickly, Bumgarner just might get his wish.

In the meantime, he is growing accustomed to the unfamiliar life of seemingly interminable bus rides and alien cities. He already braved the year's longest trip, a 12-hour jaunt from Augusta to West Virginia.

“It's long and it's boring but they gave us nice buses,” he says. “We just sleep.”

Despite his prominence within the organization, Bumgarner hasn't been given any special privileges - he rooms with a teammate in an Augusta apartment and relishes being just another one of the guys.

“That's the way I want it to be,” he says. “I have to go through the ranks the same as they do.”

Bumgarner isn't the only highly-touted member of the team. The Greenjackets have four first-round draft selections on their roster, and infielder Angel Villalona is the No. 1 rated prospect in the San Francisco organization (according to Baseball America).