Michael Scott Kirkman is a Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 pitcher

Pitcher

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe 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 a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

 for the Texas Rangers

Texas Rangers (baseball)

The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...

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Early life

Prior to playing professionally, he attended Columbia High School

Columbia High School (Lake City, Florida)

Columbia High School is a four-year public high school located in Lake City, Florida. The school's mascot is the Fighting Tigers and the colors are purple and gold...

 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

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

Spokane Indians

The Spokane Indians are a minor league baseball team located in Spokane, Washington, United States. They are a Short-Season A classification team in the Northwest League and have been a farm team of the Texas Rangers since 2003. The Indians play home games at Avista Stadium...

 (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

Bakersfield Blaze

The Bakersfield Blaze are a minor league baseball team in Bakersfield, California, USA. They are a Class A – Advanced team in the California League and are a farm team of the Cincinnati Reds. The Bakersfield Blaze play their home games at Historic Sam Lynn Ballpark...

 games Kirkman threw 48 innings with a 2.06 ERA, striking out 54 and issued 18 walks. Kirkman was promoted to AA Frisco

Frisco RoughRiders

The Frisco RoughRiders are currently the Class AA affiliate of the Texas Rangers major league baseball club. The team plays in the Texas League, assigned to the South Division. Prior to 2003, the franchise was based in Shreveport, Louisiana, and were known as the Shreveport Captains...

, 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

Cliff Lee

Clifton Phifer "Cliff" Lee is a Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Lee has also played for the Cleveland Indians, the Seattle Mariners, and the Texas Rangers....

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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. 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.