Jeff Bumgarner

[Al from SoDak]

Jeff Bumgarner was the Twins’ first-round draft pick in the 1985 MLB June Amateur Draft. He was drafted straight out of high school from Hanford High School in Richland, Washington. He was very hyped as a prospect, being untouchable in trade talks. He never made it to the show.

Bumgarner was 6’6” and 210 pounds – a prototypical starting pitcher. This right-hander’s minor league statistics do not show much promise to me. His strikeout rate was low – only 5.5 per inning pitched. His walk rate was high at 4.8 per inning pitched. He also gave up a lot of hits at 9.5 per inning pitched. His ERA in the low minors was OK but ballooned at class AA and AAA. He almost always had a losing record. With the Twins organization, he topped out at class AAA Portland with a 2.571 WHIP and a 7.71 ERA in 25.2 innings. After the 1988 season, the former first-round pick and former untouchable was traded to the Mets with Steve Gasser for Wally Backman and a prospect.

After being traded from the Twins, Bumgarner pitched four more seasons in the minor leagues but always at the A or AA level. He never again reached class AAA let alone Major League Baseball. After 1992, he was out of baseball.

Jeff Bumgarner, a former top prospect who flamed out. He was supposed to be phenomenal and was supposed lead the next generation of Twins’ pitchers to untold successes. Except it didn’t happen.

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