Giants Boast Pair Of Standout Arms In Bumgarner, Alderson:

Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson got to know each other last fall during Giants' instructional league.

But Bumgarner, the 10th overall pick in last year's draft out of South Caldwell High in Hudson, N.C., and Alderson, who went 12 picks later out of Horizon High in Scottsdale, Ariz., went their separate ways. The Giants kept Bumgarner on the East Coast, sending him to Augusta to play in low Class A, where most high school first-rounders spend much of their first pro seasons.

The Giants kept Alderson on the West Coast, showing enough faith in his polish to send him into the fire of the hitter-friendly high Class A California League to play for San Jose.

The two are nearly 2,500 miles apart for now, but only six spots separate the two on Baseball America's midseason top 25 prospects list, where Alderson ranked 19th and Bumgarner No. 25.

While Alderson has lived up to his billing as arguably the most polished prep pitcher from the 2007 draft class, Bumgarner has shown good control as well, walking just 15 batters in 81 innings, an average of 1.7 per nine innings. With 91 strikeouts and a 1.77 ERA, Bumgarner has been one of the South Atlantic League's best pitchers despite being the league's second-youngest pitcher at age 18.

"In high school you just throw your fastballs by everyone, then you throw some breaking stuff in just to mix them up, but here you've got to hit your spot," Bumgarner said.

Bumgarner, who is 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, works primarily off a plus fastball that has sat in the low 90s this year. In the SAL all-star game in Greensboro, in front of family and friends from his home state of North Carolina, Bumgarner reared back and sat at 94-95 mph during his one-inning stint. That was the highest velocity that one NL scout said he had seen this year out of Bumgarner, who touched 97 in high school.

One question mark for Bumgarner has been the future potential of his breaking ball. Bumgarner scrapped the curveball he had in high school and now uses a slider. His changeup is also in an early stage of development. At the all-star game, Bumgarner threw 26 pitches, 25 of which were fastballs.

"I really like the way he competes and challenges with his fastball," said the NL scout. "I really haven't seen much of a changeup, a true offspeed pitch from himâ€"at least not with any consistency. And a lot of times, kids are just playing around trying to find a comfortable grip with that pitch.

"The slider is a slurvy, hard breaking ball. I think he's in transition between the curveball and the slider right now. I think it's a good breaking ball, but in the transition from the curveball to the slider, the slider gets a little bit big on him. But in time, he'll shorten that up with the arm strength he has."

Alderson, 19, has kept his ERA down at 3.35 in 91 innings with 79 strikeouts and 29 walks. The 6-foot-6, 217-pound Alderson earned a spot in the California-Carolina League all-star game and, though he didn't pitch in the contest, one veteran talent evaluator said he had the best stuff of anyone in attendance.

While Alderson also has above-average velocity with a low-90s fastball that has touched 94, his knockout pitch is a wicked curveball.

"He's got good stuff," said Pablo Sandoval, Alderson's catcher at San Jose. "His curveball is the best pitch he's got. He can throw it for a strike or a ball, good location, and I can call for it early (in the count) or for the strikeout."

Alderson describes the low-80s breaking ball as a curveball/slider hybrid, but it's undoubtedly a plus pitch.

"Sometimes it'll slide, sometimes it'll just go more of a 12-to-6, and sometimes I don't even know what's happening with it," Alderson said with a smile.

With premium fastball command and a knockout curve, Alderson has turned his focus to developing a changeup. Alderson has toyed around with a few different grips, trying to find something that feels comfortable coming out of his hand and that generates good movement.

"My pitching coach and I have been working a lot on my changeup this year, and getting a lot of movement on my fastball to go along with that," Alderson said. "My curveball's always been my go-to pitchâ€"I think a lot of people know thatâ€"so I try to mix that in at the right time, and being able to throw it when the hitters are expecting a fastball and just keep them guessing."

Since Alderson and Bumgarner signed, the Giants have made tweaks to their mechanics. Alderson's high school coach Eric Kibler mandated that his pitchers throw exclusively from the stretch in their freshman through junior seasons, as a way to simplify their deliveries and improve their command. During a pitcher's senior year at Horizon, Kibler gives his pitcher the option of pitching from the full windup, but Alderson elected to still pitch out of the stretch.

"When I first signed they wanted me to see how the windup would treat me because they wanted me to be a starter, at least for now, and see how that goes," Alderson said. "They just told me to do whatever's comfortable. They didn't really tell me to do muchâ€"just find something comfortable and stick with it, and it's been working so far."

With Bumgarner, the Giants "changed my whole windup," according to the lefty, but the early returns weren't so good. After allowing 10 runs in 11 innings through his first three starts, Bumgarner reverted to his old windup and immediately dominated.

In his next 12 starts, Bumgarner had only one start in which he allowed more than one earned run (he allowed two in six innings at Greenville), including seven scoreless outings.