Bryan Bullington's Debut

The first pick of the 2002 draft made his major league debut on September 18th for the Pittsburg Pirates. Bryan Bullington, a six foot five inch righthander out of Ball State University in his third year of professional ball threw against the Cincinnati Reds in a game between also-rans.

Bullington threw thirty pitches, seventeen of them for strikes as he came into a bases loaded jam in the third inning. He was able to strand the runners and bail out departed starter Oliver Perez but in the fourth frame he allowed two runs on a hit, a walk and a hit batter.

Bullington's minor league career has been watched with interest due to the fact that high-schooler B.J. Upton was passed over by the Pirates and picked by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the 2nd pick in 2002. Many questioned the decision that the Pirates made but while Upton did appear in the majors and peform well offensively in the latter quarter of 2004 he has not appeared in a major league game in 2005.

The twenty-five year old Bullington put up very solid numbers in his first year at the Triple-A level in 2005. His performance this year with Indianapolis has probably earned him a place in Pittsburg's depleted starting rotation or relief corps in 2006.