Talk:Madison Bumgarner/GA2

GA Review

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Reviewer: Go Phightins! (talk · contribs) 01:17, 29 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hello again, Sanfranciscogiants17. It's always a pleasure to review your articles, so I will be more than happy to look at this one. Go Phightins! 01:17, 29 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Miscellaneous comments

Lead

Bumgarner features a 4-seam fastball in the 90–93 mph range, a cutter or slider around 86-90 mph, a curveball that ranges from 75 to 80 mph, and a change-up that sits 82–84. As much as I hate it, I think we are supposed to include metric conversions for that sort of stuff too :-(
No mention of early life in lead ... make sure to incorporate a "little of everything"

Career

If possible, seek to include a little bit about his upbringing/family etc. Generally, for current players, there are some features out there about him ... check hometown paper.
...as he led his team to a runner-up in the 2006 4A State Championship. Do we have anything to which we can link 4A State Champinonship, or can we include a note or something ... not everyone is familiar with high school championship structure in the U.S. It's weird, and varies state-to-state.
He was the first high school pitcher to be selected by the Giants with their first pick since Matt Cain in 2002, the first left-handed pitcher selected in the first round by the organization since Noah Lowry in 2001, the first left-handed pitcher taken as the first pick by the organization since Mike Remlinger in 1987, and the first high-school left-hander the Giants drafted in the first round since Frank Riccelli in 1971. I am ambivalent on this sentence's inclusion. It's interesting ... for a while; maybe just keep it to mentioning Cain and maybe Lowry, as that is somewhat relevant to Bumgarner. Open to discussion on this, though.
Do we have any anecdotal/qualitative/development-oriented information on his time in the minor leagues? Regurgitation of statistics gets old and unengaging pretty quickly.
In 2008, Baseball America ranked him the third-best prospect in the Giants organization.[6] Before the start of the 2009 season, they ranked Bumgarner as the ninth-best prospect in baseball.[7] Entering 2010, they ranked him as the 14th-best prospect in baseball.[8] What accounted for the drop in prospect ranking?
At the age of 20, he became the second youngest pitcher ever to start a game for the Giants since the franchise moved west in 1958, older only than Mike McCormick, who made his debut for San Francisco as a 19-year-old when the team was still in New York.[9][10] I don't feel like diagramming the sentence to see if it is a run-on, but run-on or not, it is rather cumbersome. Can it be split somehow?
Bumgarner made four appearances with the Giants in 2009, accruing an ERA of 1.80 and 10 strikeouts, pitching 10 innings without recording a decision.[2] Can one "accrue" an average? Meh.
Bumgarner attended the Giants' spring training before the 2010 season, competing for the position of fifth starter, but was sent down to the AAA Fresno Grizzlies due to a drop in his velocity.[11] Why did his velocity drop? Injury? We need more context.
The second paragraph of the 2010 section is nice.
However, he was the victim of poor run support and bad luck, a treatment the San Francisco media called his "Caining," a reference to teammate Matt Cain's often dominant performances that featured little to no run support as well.[21] The "Caining" thing seems trivial to me ... if it were about Bumgarner, maybe, but it's not.
Spell out and/or explain WHIP at its first mention ("2013 saw Bumgarner set career bests for ERA (2.77), WHIP (1.03) and strikeouts (199) in 31 starts, finishing with a 13–9 record.")
Following his outstanding 2013 season, on February 25, 2014, Bumgarner was named the Giant's Opening Day starter for the first time in his career.[32] Following his outstanding 2013 season, on February 25, 2014, Bumgarner was named the Giants' Opening Day starter for the first time in his career.[32]

All right, unfortunately, at this point, this article is not going to satisfy criteria 1(a), possibly not 1(b), nor 3(a) ... the pitching style section can definitely be expanded to encompass more than just what he throws, you can focus on his approach, his delivery, etc. The velocity decline thing is an opportune time to elucidate on more than just on-field performance. The tragedy with his sister is also prime opportunity for expansion into his life off-the-field. This article falls into the trap that many sports articles do; it focuses almost entirely on what happens on the field. I am a stats geek, and I, quite frankly, am a little bored. Regrettably, I am going to have to fail this article, as it does not meet the GA criteria at this time. It is solidly a B-Class article, but right now, it does not satisfy the GA criteria. Sorry. Go Phightins! 02:04, 29 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]