Bumgarner on debut: 'Everything felt good'

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- It may have looked strange to see Madison Bumgarner on a big league mound wearing a uniform other than that of the San Francisco Giants, but it didn’t bother the veteran lefty when he made his D-backs spring debut Thursday afternoon against the Reds.

Bumgarner allowed just one hit -- a solo homer by Derek Dietrich -- while striking out four. He threw 24 pitches, 17 for strikes.

"I felt good,” Bumgarner said. “A lot better than expected for the first game of spring, especially the way it usually goes for me. I was pretty happy with it."

The 30-year-old’s fastball touched 93 mph, per Statcast, and he dropped in his curve effectively.

"The curveball's actually been pretty good for me,” Bumgarner said. “The feel of the pitches, you can't expect to be dialed in like it will be in June, July, August, right in there. It feels like [the curve] pretty much picked up right where it left off. I mixed in everything, threw a few more fastballs than I was originally planning. I was planning on mixing it up and seeing where everything was at and what I needed to work on. I ended up going out there and the fastball felt pretty good, and I wanted to see exactly where it was at. We threw I don't know how many, probably 10 or 12 in a row at one point. That's good to see. I'm happy with that."

While he was warming up, Bumgarner said he heard from fans near the bullpen that they were happy the D-backs signed him to a five-year, $85 million free-agent contract on Dec. 17.

Other than that, though, he claimed to not really think about the fact that it was his first time ever wearing a non-Giants uniform in a professional game.

"Honestly, for me, when I'm out there, I just kind of focus on what I'm doing,” he said. “I've honestly never thought about it one time when I was out there."

One thing that Bumgarner did not want to discuss following his outing was a report in The Athletic earlier this week that detailed his use of the alias “Mason Saunders” to compete in a secret rodeo career.

"Like I said, I felt really good today,” Bumgarner said when asked a rodeo question. “Everything felt good and I was happy with where it was at."

After a number of questions along the same lines, Bumgarner said, “Are you really not getting it? Gosh. OK."

For Bumgarner’s first outing with the D-backs, Stephen Vogt, who also came over from the Giants during the offseason, was behind the plate.

Whereas Zack Greinke preferred to have just one catcher work with him during the season, Bumgarner has expressed that he does not mind if he throws to different catchers.

"It's nice to have somebody you know back there,” Bumgarner said of Vogt. “But at this point, I feel like I've gotten to know a lot of guys, especially the catchers, pretty good. Obviously, I've thrown to Buster [Posey] a lot, but I've worked with a lot of catchers in my career. It's not as big of an adjustment as people might think."