Bradley Christopher Blalock (born December 25, 2000) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

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for the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

Career

Boston Red Sox

Blalock attended Grayson High School in

Loganville, Georgia Loganville is a city in Walton and Gwinnett counties, Georgia, United States. The population was 16,516 as of 2023. Loganville is located about east of Atlanta and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. History An early variant name was " ...

. He was drafted by the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

in the 32nd round, with the 977th overall selection, of the

2019 Major League Baseball draft The 2019 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 3 to 5, 2019. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2018 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks ...

. Blalock made his professional debut with the rookie–level

Gulf Coast League Red Sox The Florida Complex League Red Sox are a professional baseball team competing in the rookie-level Florida Complex League (FCL) of Minor League Baseball. The team is owned and operated by the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). Prior ...

, logging a 6.75 ERA in 4 games (3 starts). He did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Blalock spent the 2021 campaign with the Single–A

Salem Red Sox The Salem Red Sox are a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB), based in Salem, Virginia, Salem, an independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia. The team competes at the Single-A level in the Car ...

, making 23 starts and compiling a 3–6 record and 4.27 ERA with 85 strikeouts over innings pitched. He underwent

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, sometimes referred to as Tommy John surgery is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's body, ...

in March 2022, and missed the entirety of the season as a result. Blalock began the 2023 season with Salem, and was promoted to the High–A

Greenville Drive The Greenville Drive are a Minor League Baseball team based in Greenville, South Carolina. They are the High-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox and are a member of the South Atlantic League. They play their home games at Fluor Field at the West E ...

after four starts. In seven starts for Greenville, he recorded a 5–1 record and 2.55 ERA with 36 strikeouts across innings pitched.

Milwaukee Brewers

On August 1, 2023, the Red Sox traded Blalock to the

in exchange for Luis Urías. He made 4 starts for the High–A

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, a town on the outskirts of Appleton in the Fox Cities, and are nam ...

down the stretch, posting a 5.27 ERA with 17 strikeouts across innings. On November 13, the Brewers added Blalock to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. He was optioned to the Double–A

Biloxi Shuckers The Biloxi Shuckers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League (1964–present), Southern League and the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Biloxi, Mississippi, and are named in ref ...

to begin the 2024 season. In 7 starts for Biloxi, he recorded a 2.27 ERA with 29 strikeouts across innings pitched. On May 20, 2024, Blalock was promoted to the major leagues for the first time. However, he did not play in a game, and was optioned back to Biloxi on May 24, becoming a

phantom ballplayer A phantom ballplayer is either a baseball player who is incorrectly listed in source materials as playing in a Major League Baseball (MLB) game, often the result of typographical or clerical errors, or a player who spent time on an MLB Major Lea ...

. On June 19, Blalock was promoted to the major leagues for the second time, and he made his MLB debut the following day.

Colorado Rockies

On July 27, 2024, Blalock and Yujanyer Herrera were traded to the

in exchange for

Nick Mears Nicolaus Tanner Mears (born October 7, 1996) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Colorado Rockies. Career Mears att ...

. Blalock made his Rockies debut on August 12, 2024, against the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

. Over 5.2 innings, he gave up six hits, three for runs, and struck out four. On August 24, Blalock earned his first career win against the eventual 2024

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

champion

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

. Through the remainder of the 2024 season, Blalock made six appearances, finishing the season with a 5.87 ERA in 30.2 IP.

Pitch arsenal

Blacklock has a five-pitch mix: four-seam fastball, slider, splitter, curveball, and cutter. In 2024, he relied primarily on his four-seamer, using his splitter as a put-away pitch, modeled after Kevin Gausman’s split-change.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blalock, Bradley 2000 births Living people Albuquerque Isotopes players Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Biloxi Shuckers players 21st-century American sportsmen Colorado Rockies players Greenville Drive players Gulf Coast Red Sox players Major League Baseball pitchers Milwaukee Brewers players Salem Red Sox players Sportspeople from Conyers, Georgia Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players