Madison Bumgarner or Jonathan Sanchez?
Thankfully for the San Francisco Giants, the tough choice between the two does not have to be made, for now. However, the day may soon come in which a trade comes along that cannot be turned down and the Giants will need to make a decision; hopefully the core rotation will stay intact (cheers for Brian Sabean), but that day may be sooner than you’d think.
As the two productive lefties in the Giants rotation (sorry, Barry Zito), Bumgarner and Sanchez are seemingly easy to group together. However, the pitchers are, in fact, extremely different physically, mentally and stylistically.
Sanchez, at 6-foot-2, 189 pounds is built for power, with long legs and a windup reliant on torque for increased force. If his arm is not in the right slot, the Giants are usually in for a stressful night. So is Sanchez, who frequently shows his frustrations on the field.
Bumgarner is a lanky 6-foot-4, 215 pounds and generates power by slinging his arm through his motion. He tends to last longer per start than Sanchez and his motion does not seem to put much stress on his arm. He also stays calm, even in stressful situations (though he has not found himself in many).
The most obvious difference between the two is age: Sanchez is 28, Bumgarner is 21.
With all of these facts taken into account, I believe that Madison Bumgarner is the better lefty moving forward. Let’s go a little more in depth and see the top 10 reasons why.