Thursday, March 24, 2005

Bullish on Bullington

Baseball America's lead on-line article yesterday was a feature on Bryan
Bullington. I don't own a subscription, so I couldn't read the whole
article. But the teaser reads as follows:

Though No. 2 pick B.J. Upton beat him to majors, and his fastball is 2-5 mph slower than his college days at Ball State, the Pirates are satisfied with 2002
No. 1 draftee Bryan Bullington.

Hmmm...so, even though the player they COULD HAVE drafted is poised to make an impact this season, and the player they DID take has experienced a regression in skill, Baseball America accepts the party line that the Pirates are "satisfied."

Of course, if you ask Littlefield if he's happy with Bullington, he's not going to reply, "No, I wish we had Upton." Littlefield is smarter than that. But the fact remains that Bullington's progress is not fine for a #1 overall draft pick who was selected specifically because he was more major league ready.

But that milk has been spilled. Let's hope that Bullington explodes on AAA this season and is ready to play a big role in 2006.

posted by bkopec @ 8:54 AM   0 comments