Mark Buehrle's career has been a dream come true. I mean, this guy was selected in the 38th round of the 1998 draft. Sandwiched between shortstop Shaun Skrehot and outfielder T.J. Bird, the White Sox found their future ace. But it gets even better.
Buerhle only made 36 minor league appearances before joining the Chicago White Sox in the middle of 2000. He pitched once out the pen before moving into the rotation, and anchor ever since. He has gone on to pitch a no-hitter (April 18, 2007), pitch a perfect game (July 23, 2009), and lead his team to a dominating World Series win in 2005. From a 38th round pick!
To me, Buehrle reminds me of Tom Glavine when he was around 30. Neither can zip it by, as both struggled to get it to 90 mph. But both had the proper mentality to make it work, hitting their spots, and making batters miss. As a matter of fact, Glavine and Buehrle have similar careers at this point. Glavine was 124-82 in 262 starts. Buehrle is 122-87 in 268 starts. Not a bad model...
And better yet, Glavine is a Hall of Fame candidate with 300+ wins under his belt. And he never threw a perfect game or a no-hitter! He did manage 2 Cy Youngs, which Buehrle is still waiting on. But I feel that Buehrle, if he can maintain his current order, is a Hall of Famer in the making.
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