Dec. 11, 2008
LAS VEGAS - Former Illinois State pitcher Kyle Bloom was selected by the Detroit Tigers with the eighth pick in Major League Baseball's Rule 5 Draft Thursday. The selection, which came in the draft's major league phase, means Bloom will be added to the Tigers' 25-man roster and will likely make his major league debut in 2009.
Bloom, who pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates' Double-A Altoona Curve in 2008, must remain on the Tigers' Major League roster for the entire season or be offered back to the Pirates. Bloom, a left-handed starting pitcher, was one of 21 players and 16 pitchers selected during the major league phase of the draft.
Bloom battled through a roller coaster season in 2008, earning the nod as opening-day starter for the Curve, then losing a spot in the rotation before earning it back again and posting great numbers during the second half of the year. Bloom earned a trip to the Hawaiian Winter League after posting a 5-8 record with a 4.19 ERA in 28 games for the Curve. Bloom showed solid control throughout the regular season, while striking out 93 and walking 55 in 109.2 innings.
Bloom's stock skyrocketed in Hawaii, a postseason developmental league reserved for the top young prospects of each organization, where he struck out 32 and allowed five earned runs in 30 innings. Bloom posted a 2-0 record and was second among all pitchers and the top starting pitcher with a 1.50 ERA.
"He was a non-factor, and now he's a back-of-the-rotation factor if he's still a Pirate," Baseball America's John Manuel said about Bloom's meteoric rise in a chat prior to the Rule 5 draft. "I don't think he's great, but he has come along. He's gotten better, which isn't typical for guys his age. He's more of a savvy, strike-throwing guy than a stuff guy, but he threw more strikes with better stuff in the second half this year and in Hawaii. Pun completely intended, but I think he's a bit of a late-bloomer."
Bloom, a Bettendorf, Iowa, native, was selected in the fifth round of the June 2004 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft after going 14-16 with a 5.31 ERA in three seasons for Illinois State and leading the Redbirds in strikeouts each year. Bloom earned All-Missouri Valley Conference Honorable Mention honors as a sophomore after being named to the Louisville Slugger/TPX Freshman All-America Second Team in 2002.
Bloom joins a list of notable Rule 5 Draftees in two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana; all-stars Josh Hamilton, Dan Uggla, Joakim Soria and Fernando Vina; and World Series participants Shane Victorino, Willy Taveras and Scott Podsednik.
