Why Madison Bumgarner, SF Giants, Is MLB's Most Underrated Pitcher

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Madison Bumgarner is turning into an absolute monster on the hill for the San Francisco Giants. 

However, Bumgarner rarely gets the credit he deserves. The big lefty deserves to be mentioned with the best pitchers in baseball right now.

Thanks to the Giants having Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, Bumgarner is left out of the spotlight. The two aces are not the only factors in the reasoning of Bumgarner being so underrated.

The young gun is one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, and is the most underrated pitcher in all of baseball.

The Aces

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Clearly everyone knows about both Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain. 

The righties are two of the best pitchers in all of baseball, even with Lincecum struggling in 2012. Unfortunately, Bumgarner is playing the Chris Bosh role in this "Big Three."

That is not an easy role.

Bumgarner's role can be comparable to Bosh's with the Miami Heat, but Bumgarner's situation is a bit different. Bumgarner is quickly showing he can be as good as Lincecum and Cain, and one day be the ace ahead of the two.

With these two aces of the same staff as Bumgarner, it makes it very hard for the lefty to get the credit he deserves.  

Age

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Let's all remember that Bumgarner is off to a 10-4 start as a 22-year-old. That's impressive. 

There are loads of talk about young stars in baseball with Bryce Harper and Mike Trout now in the big leagues, and they deserve it, but Bumgarner has to be recognized as one of the best young talents in the game. 

The kid can flat out pitch. Not only does he have filthy stuff, but he is consistent. 

Teams have a hard time hitting Bumgarner hard, and he has not allowed more than four runs in any of his starts so far in 2012. 

For his age, Bumgarner is dominating the league and deserves to be recognized with the other young studs in the league. 

Workhorse

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Bumgarner, at 6'5" and 235 pounds, is a workhorse for the Giants. 

At the tender age of 22, it is very rare to see a pitcher be such a workhorse. Bumgarner is at the top of the ranks in plenty of categories so far in 2012. 

The lefty ranks third in all of the MLB in wins with 10, fourth in innings pitched with 110.2, second in games started with 16, fourteenth in WHIP with a 1.06 and eighteenth in strikeouts with 92. Being in the top 20 in all of these categories is huge for Bumgarner and the Giants.

At only 22 years old, Bumgarner is already a workhorse and is built to be one for a long time in San Francisco.   

NL West

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The NL West is stacked with pitching. 

Going into the 2012 season, the NL West was loaded with aces. The list of players include: Clayton Kershaw, Ian Kennedy, Trevor Cahill, Daniel Hudson, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner. Yes, some of these pitchers haven't pitched to their expectations, but clearly the division is loaded. 

However, Bumgarner is outshining all of these aces. 

With all these big names, it's hard for Bumgarner to get recognized. In a division loaded with pitching talent, Bumgarner has out-pitched all of them so far in 2012. 

Conclusion

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Madison Bumgarner is clearly off to a great start for the San Francisco Giants, and don't expect him to slow down. 

The lefty is commanding the zone and working deep into games. The bullpen has to love Bumgarner. 

At his age, Bumgarner is beyond impressive. He is a workhorse that has out-pitched some of the best pitchers in all of baseball. 

Bumgarner is a stud that will continue to develop into an even better pitcher and has plenty of reasons to be considered the most underrated pitcher in all of baseball.