In the wake of Mark Buehrle's perfect game last week, I felt obliged to look back (and subsequently ahead) at his career. Buehrle broke into the league in 2000 with the White Sox after being drafted by the team in the 38th round of the 1998 draft. He was initially used out of the pen but got a few spot starts. He was plugged into the rotation in 2001 and has been a mainstay every since, winning at least 10 games and hurling over 200 innings each year. Further, 2006 was the only year that he had a losing record (12-13) and struck out less than 115 batters (98). Buehrle has never been a power pitcher but has utilized his 'hurry up' approach, great pitch location, and good sequencing to baffle hitters for the past 10 seasons. He has also had quite a number memorable moments in his career:
1. He threw a no-hitter against the Rangers in 2007 in which he faced the minimum 27 batters. His only blemish was a walk to Sammy Sosa in the 5th inning, whom he proceeded to pick off of first base.
2. Reaching a little further back, Buehrle was involved in one of the fastest games every during a 2005 game against Ryan Franklin of the Mariners. The game lasted a mere 1 hour 39 minutes with Buehrle giving up only 3 hits (all to Ichiro) in the complete game effort (Sox won 2-1).
3. Also in 2005, during the World Series run, Buehrle was apart of the 4 consecutive complete games thrown by Sox pitchers (Buehrle, Garland, Garcia, and Contreras) in the ALCS. More specifically, the game he pitched is the now infamous one in which Pierzynski was called safe at first after a dropped third strike.
4. Obviously, Buehrle's perfect game last week against the Tampa Bay Rays (only the 18th perfect game all-time). His stat line: 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 116 PC (76 strikes).
Looking forward, I see bright things in Mark Buehrle's future. He is most definitely one of the star faces of the franchise, so I don't see him going to any other clubs (which is a rarity these days to find someone drafted, come up through the system, and remain with the same ball club their entire career). I think that his smooth deliver, capacity to work quickly, and reliance on location (not power) will allow him to remain in the league for many years to come. Also, he's a smart player and will continue to use his head to evolve his sequences and locations to keep hitters off target. He currently has 133 career wins in 10 years of work (9 as a starter). I think that I can safely say that he can easily amass 250 wins in his career and personally believe that it's not that much of a stretch to say that he could win 300 games (just think ~15 wins the next 10 years). What I can say for certain is that I'm excited to have someone of his calibur on the South side and am excited to watch how the rest of career pans out.
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