Michael Kirkman

Michael Kirkman
Texas Rangers — No. 44
Pitcher
Born: September 18, 1986 (Age 24) Lake City, Florida
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
MLB debut
August 21, 2010 for the Texas Rangers
Career statistics (through September 3, 2010)
Win-Loss	1–1
Earned Run Average	4.99
Strikeouts	34
Teams
Texas Rangers (2011–present)

Michael Scott Kirkman (born September 18, 1986 in Lake City, Florida, USA) is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Texas Rangers.

Early life

Prior to playing professionally, he attended Columbia High School in Lake City, Florida. He was drafted by the Rangers in the fifth round of the 2005 amateur draft and began his professional career that year.

Professional career

With the AZL Rangers in 2005, Kirkman went 3–1 with a 3.44 ERA in 14 games (nine starts), striking out 58 batters in 52 1/3 innings. He split 2006 between the AZL Rangers (eight games) and Clinton Lumber Kings (six games), going a combined 1–5 with a 9.70 ERA in 14 games (10 starts). He walked 51 batters in 34 1/3 innings while striking out 30. Despite posting an ERA near ten, he did not allow a single home run in 2006.

Kirkman pitched for the Lumber Kings (five games) and Spokane Indians (nine games) in 2007, going a combined 1–5 with a 7.14 ERA in 14 games (eight starts). He pitched for Spokane and Clinton again in 2008, improving to a combined record of 5–4 with an ERA of 3.84 in 17 games (16 starts).

2009 became a breakout year for Kirkman. In eight Bakersfield Blaze games Kirkman threw 48 innings with a 2.06 ERA, striking out 54 and issued 18 walks. Kirkman was promoted to AA Frisco, threw 96 innings in 18 games and earned a spot on the 40_man roster after the 2009 season. In an interview with Jason Cole, Kirkman attributed his 2009 improvement to watching film of Cliff Lee.^[1]

“	I started watching Cliff Lee pitch, and I started watching video of him and video of me. I was comparing myself to him. One thing he did is he shortened up his front arm and it let him get through the ball rather than having to go around himself to get to the plate. That really, I think, is what turned me on.	”
— Michael Kirkman

He began 2010 with the Oklahoma City RedHawks and was ranked as the 15th best prospect at the start of the year by Jamey Newberg.^[2][3] In his major league debut with the Rangers on August 21, he struck out the first three batters he faced and retired all four.

After beginning the 2011 season with the Rangers, Kirkman was optioned to Triple-A on April 20.^[4]

References

1. ^ Mike Hindman (August 28, 2010). "Hindsights Vol: 5: Mike Kirkman's Bizarre Odyssey". BBTIA.com. http://www.bbtia.com/home/2010/8/28/hindsights-vol-5-mike-kirkmans-bizarre-odyssey.html. Retrieved September 12, 2010. 
2. ^ "Minor League stats". Baseball-reference.com. September 18, 1986. http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=kirkma001mic. Retrieved October 24, 2010. 
3. ^ by pwh9980 (January 1, 2010). "Newberg's top 72 prospects". Lone Star Ball. http://www.lonestarball.com/2010/1/1/1229469/newbergs-top-72-prospects. Retrieved October 24, 2010. 
4. ^ Rangers bring Tomko back to major leagues, Associated Press, April 20, 2011.

Persondata
Name	Kirkman, Michael
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 18, 1986
Place of birth	Lake City, Florida
Date of death
Place of death