Kirk Richard Dressendorfer (born April 8, 1969) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played for the Oakland Athletics of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) in 1991. Dressendorfer attended and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Amateur career

Dressendorfer graduated from

Pearland High School Pearland High School (PHS) is an American public high school, located in Pearland, Texas, south of Houston. It is one of three high schools in the Pearland Independent School District, and serves parts of Pearland and most of the city of Br ...

and was selected by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

in the 34th round of the

1987 MLB Draft The Major League Baseball Draft is the process by which Major League Baseball (MLB) teams select athletes to play for their organization. High school seniors, college juniors and seniors, and anyone who had never played under a professional cont ...

, but opted to attend

. At UT he was a three-time All-American and All-SWC, posting a career record of 45–8, including a single-season record 15 complete games. In 1988, he played collegiate summer baseball with the

Hyannis Mets The Hyannis Harbor Hawks, formerly the Hyannis Mets, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Hyannis, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Harbor Hawks play ...

of the Cape Cod Baseball League and was named a league all-star. Dressendorfer was inducted into the

National College Baseball Hall of Fame The National College Baseball Hall of Fame is an institution operated by the College Baseball Foundation serving as the central point for the study of the history of college baseball in the United States. In partnership with the Southwest Collect ...

in 2009.

Professional career

Dressendorfer was then selected by the Oakland Athletics in the first round (36th pick overall) of the

1990 MLB Draft The 1990 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft was held in June 1990. The draft placed amateur baseball players onto major league teams. 1,487 players were distributed to 26 teams. The draft consisted of first round selections, supplemental first ...

. The Athletics possessed four first-round draft picks - including supplementals - due to compensation for the loss of free agents. The team took the unique choice to draft four different starting pitchers, Dressendorfer the last of a cohort that included

Todd Van Poppel Todd Matthew Van Poppel (born December 9, 1971) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Oakland Athletics (, –), Detroit Tigers (1996), Texas Rangers (, –), Pittsburgh Pirates (1998), Chicago Cubs (–), and Cincinn ...

, Donald Peters, and Dave Zancanaro. Media dubbed the group the 'Four Aces'. However, Dressendorfer joined Van Poppel as the only two of the four to reach the major leagues.Melissa Lockard. Blast from the Past: Q&A with Kirk Dressendorfer, December 16, 2004.
He started out with the

Southern Oregon Timberjacks The Southern Oregon Timberjacks were a minor league baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Medford, Oregon. The team played in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League and were an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics for 21 seaso ...

before making his Major League Baseball debut with the Athletics on April 13, 1991, pitching to a 4–2 victory over the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

, and appearing in his final MLB game on May 21, 1991. Over the next 6 years, he bounced around the minor leagues, playing at times for Tacoma, Modesto, Arizona, Huntsville, Edmonton, and Albuquerque. After the 1997 season he retired.

Personal

Dressendorfer was the Director of Baseball Operations & Outreach for the

Round Rock Express The Round Rock Express are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They are located in Round Rock, Texas, and play their home games at the Dell Diamond. The team is named ...

, the AAA affiliate of the Houston Astros. He now is a Business Development Project Manager for the After Point of Sales Services organization within Dell Inc.

References

Sources

1969 births Living people Albuquerque Dukes players All-American college baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Houston National College Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Edmonton Trappers players Huntsville Stars players Hyannis Harbor Hawks players Major League Baseball pitchers Modesto A's players Oakland Athletics players Southern Oregon A's players Tacoma Tigers players Texas Longhorns baseball players Pearland High School alumni {{US-baseball-pitcher-1960s-stub