San Francisco Giants: Madison Bumgarner Will Be Out Until All-Star Break
San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner will miss the next three months after suffering a shoulder injury in a dirt bike accident. His absence is a gut punch to a team that is struggling in the NL West.
Madison Bumgarner is expected to be out until after the All-Star break, reports Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. The Giants ace suffered a Grade 2 sprain in his left shoulder in a dirt bike accident on April 20. The team had an off day in Colorado that day. Bumgarner has partial ligament tears in his AC joint on his shoulder. But surgery is not required, according to Baggarly.
Originally, the Giants believed Bumgarner would miss only six to eight weeks, as Ken Rosenthal reported. However, the nature of a Grade 2 sprain in the AC joint requires at least two months of rehabilitation. Bumgarner will also need several weeks to build arm strength.
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Before heading to the disabled list, Bumgarner had a 3.00 ERA and 2.42 FIP. The 27-year-old southpaw tallied 28 strikeouts in just 27.0 innings pitched but has gone 0-3 in his first four starts. The Giants will also miss his presence at the plate. Bumgarner was hitting .286/.375/1.143 in 8 plate appearances; small sample size be damned! He also knocked in two home runs, the second-most on the team.
Amazingly, with over 1,400 innings pitched in his career, this is Madison Bumgarner's first trip to the disabled list. His durability was practically unrivaled but now will be in question upon his return.
As it stands, the Giants still have Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzjia, Matt Morre, and Matt Cain in the rotation. However, Cain is the only one with a sub-three ERA. Samardzjia is expected to improve. The BABIP against him is .359 and indicates poor luck in his first four starts.
The San Francisco Giants were in a big hole with their ace. They went 6-10 before Madison Bumgarner's injury. Now they find themselves in a pit without him. Climbing to the top of the NL West is surely an insurmountable task.
