Michael Aaron Ballard (born February 6, 1984) is a former professional baseball

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 ...

Baseball career

Amateur career

Ballard went to

Ocean Lakes High School Ocean Lakes High School (OLHS) is a public high school in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and is located in the city's southeastern section. Math and Science Academy A notable feature of Ocean Lakes high school is the Math and Science Academy, started ...

, where he led the team to a second-place finish in the 2001 Virginia AAA State Tournament, setting a school record in ERA with a 0.69 ERA. He was drafted in the 50th round, 1474th overall, in the 2002 MLB Draft by the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

, but he decided to go to the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. His 2003 season was cut short due to injury, where, in his seven starts, he had a 1.93 ERA in 7 starts. He missed all of 2004 due to injury. He was solid in 2005, where he went 8–3 with a 3.54 ERA over 15 starts. In 2005, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Orleans Cardinals The Orleans Firebirds, formerly the Orleans Cardinals, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Orleans, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Firebirds play t ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. Ballard was drafted again by the Minnesota Twins, in the 47th round, 1415th overall, of the 2005 Draft, but decided to stay for his senior year. His senior year was less impressive, with a 4.09 ERA, despite having a 9–3 record and two complete games. He was drafted in the 14th round, 418th overall, by the Texas Rangers in the 2006 MLB Draft, and decided to sign.

Professional career

He started 2006 with Short-Season

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

, where he went 2–7 with a 5.68 ERA. He started 2007 with Single-A Clinton, where he went 9-4 before earning a promotion to High-A

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

. He started 2008 with Double-A Frisco, where he went 8-3 before earning a promotion to Triple-A

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. He split 2009 with Frisco and newly renamed Oklahoma City. He spent all of 2010 with Oklahoma City after earning a spring training visit. In the offseason, he signed with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

as a minor league free agent. He started the season with Triple-A

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, but was demoted to Double-A Bowie after a 4.91 ERA. On July 31, 2011, Ballard was called up to replace the struggling

Jason Berken Jason Thomas Berken (born November 27, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago Cubs. College Berken graduated from West De Pere High School. He ...

. However, he never appeared in a game. On December 27, 2011, Ballard signed a minor league deal with the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

with an invite to spring training. He signed with the

CPBL The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

's Brother Elephants for the 2013 season.

References

External links

Virginia Cavaliers Player Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballard, Mike Baseball players from Norfolk, Virginia Virginia Cavaliers baseball players Orleans Firebirds players Spokane Indians players Clinton LumberKings players Bakersfield Blaze players Frisco RoughRiders players Oklahoma RedHawks players Oklahoma City RedHawks players Norfolk Tides players Bowie Baysox players Harrisburg Senators players 1984 births Living people Brother Elephants players