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REVISED 08.06.03
Brian Ross
New Orleans - 07.07.03 - The road of professional baseball has been a long one for Kirk Bullinger. He is finding, ironically, that his best shot at the majors may be across the street from where he played baseball as a child.
Mr. Bullinger:The MLN 'True' Story
The right-hander, whose twelve-years in the minors with an impressive lifetime 2.13 ERA, has been a great pitcher anywhere that he has played. Yet he has never spent more than two seasons with any one team.
Kirk has pitched twelve innings spread out over several brief call-ups in the majors for Montreal, Boston, and Philly, including a major-to-major finish and start in 1999-2000 with a 1-0 record and a 7.30 lifetime ERA.
He had a near-career-ending back injury with the Expos that was aggravated while training with the Phillies, yet he is stronger today and pitching better than he was in his twenties.
While Bullinger might be casually dismissed by the radar reactionaries as a low-burner pitcher with an 86mph fastball, he has quietly and steadily achieved the art and science of good pitch selection and deft placement that harkens back to skilled hurlers in the days before weight rooms, steroids and radarmania. His ERA, cruising in at 2.75 in 2002, and in that range through the beginning of 2003, shows that Bully knows how to intimidate batters.
It also makes him one of the best secret weapons in the Astros' arm-ory.
What A Long, Strange Trip Its Been
A native of Metairie, Louisiana who graduated from Archbishop Rummel High School and Southeastern Louisiana University, Kirk, like his brother Jim before him, found his way into professional baseball. He was a 32nd round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in the June 1992 draft.
Bullinger was dealt to the Expos in 1995 as part of a larger trade, landing at Hamilton in the Short Season A New-York Penn League that year, at age 22.
The Expos farm system in the early nineties was a chaotic mess in which Kirk became caught up in the "fit" system. The farm system was putting together combinations of infields and bullpens that could hypothetically develop together.
Players were moved up and down in the system, bouncing, at times, from AAA all the way back to the Short A in search of that proper "fit.".
Bullinger pitched well, but placing his style and talents always seemed to be a bit of an issue.
Introduction to the Bigs
Kirk made his major league debut with the Expos in 1998, which came as a complete surprise because of a near career-ending injury that had occurred earlier that year.
"I've only had one major injury," says Bullinger. A herniated disc in his lower back required surgery after spring training in 1998. "I thought I had a really good chance of making the Montreal Expos team out of spring training as a non-roster invitee. It set me back."
What is it like to have your first assignment with the major league club?
"It's one of the greatest experiences that anyone can ever go through," Kirk says with a look that struggles to express the feeling of that moment. "It's like I say that everybody who puts on a uniform from little league forward should experience one day because it's something that you, you can't explain. It's something that you have to experience. It's just a dream come true for any kid that's played baseball. It was just that for me. A dream come true."
The dream had a bit more of a nightmarish cast to it. In an outing against St. Louis, Bully was brought in to face a few crucial batters. It was a fairly good performance, save the blast he took from Mark McGwire, who belted home run number 68 off of him. A grand, yet humbling welcome for a rookie.
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Photo courtesy New Orleans Zephyrs
