Michael Scott Kirkman (born September 18, 1986) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres and

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

Early life

Prior to playing professionally, he attended

Columbia High School Columbia High School may refer to: *Columbia High School (Huntsville, Alabama) *Columbia High School (Georgia) *Columbia High School (Florida) *Columbia High School (Idaho) *Columbia High School (Illinois) *Columbia High School (Mississippi), a Mis ...

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

Texas Rangers

With the

AZL Rangers The Arizona Complex League Rangers are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Texas Rangers, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Arizona. The team is composed ...

in 2005, Kirkman went 3–1 with a 3.44 ERA in 14 games (nine starts), striking out 58 batters in 52 innings. He split 2006 between the AZL Rangers (eight games) and Clinton LumberKings (six games), going a combined 1–5 with a 9.70 ERA in 14 games (10 starts). He walked 51 batters in 34 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 LumberKings (five games) and

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Color ...

(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. 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 Jamison Dean "Jamey" Newberg (born March 3, 1969) is a Dallas, Texas lawyer and sports writer who became fairly well known since the late 1990s as an expert multi-media commentator on the Texas Rangers baseball organization, with an emphasis on ...

. 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. On May 21, 2012, the Rangers announced that Kirkman was being treated for skin cancer. Kirkman started the 2013 season with the Rangers until June 9 when he was placed on the 15-day disabled list, due to a reoccurrence of the skin cancer. He was designated for assignment on March 28, 2014 and outrighted to the minors four days later. He was called back up by the Rangers on September 2, 2014. He was non-tendered on December 2, 2014 and became a free agent. He was later resigned, then released on March 17, 2015.

Milwaukee Brewers

On April 22, 2015, Kirkman signed a minor league contract with the

. He was released on August 1.

San Diego Padres

After signing a minor league deal with San Diego in February 2016, Kirkman was called up to the majors on April 26. He was designated for assignment on May 2.

Return to Milwaukee

On May 5, 2016, Kirkman was claimed off waivers by the Milwaukee Brewers. He was designated for assignment on May 13, 2016, to make room for waiver claim

Jhan Marinez Maistre Jhan (also Jehan, Jan, Ihan) (c. 1485 – October 1538) was a French composer of the Renaissance, active for most of his career in Ferrara, Italy. An enigmatic figure, of whom little biographical information has yet emerged, he was one of t ...

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves signed Kirkman to a minor league contract on January 31, 2017. He was released on March 29, 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkman, Michael 1986 births Living people People from Lake City, Florida Baseball players from Florida Major League Baseball pitchers Texas Rangers players San Diego Padres players Milwaukee Brewers players Arizona League Rangers players Clinton LumberKings players Spokane Indians players Bakersfield Blaze players Frisco RoughRiders players Oklahoma City RedHawks players Round Rock Express players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players El Paso Chihuahuas players