Kevin Burdick

Kevin Lee Burdick

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 175 lb.
• School University of Oklahoma
• High School Pryor High School
• Born February 15, 1964 in Oklahoma City, OK USA

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Kevin Burdick peaked at AAA.

Burdick was one of the nation's top hitters in college in 1986, batting .439 with 23 steals, 83 runs, 91 RBI and a .673 slugging percentage. He set University of Oklahoma records for hits (118), runs and RBI. He was 13th in NCAA Division I in average (between Casey Close and Kevin Fitzgerald), tied Tommy Hinzo for 7th in runs, led in hits (two over Bien Figueroa), tied for 8th with 24 doubles and tied Chris Donnels and Jimmy Barragan for 3rd in RBI (trailing only Robin Ventura and Craig Cooper. He was named All-American at DH by the American Baseball Coaches Association; Baseball America picked him second-team at second base, behind Luis Alicea. He hit .315/~.400/.494 with 40 runs in 44 games that summer for Team USA. He led the team with 23 walks and tied Todd Azar for second in runs. He joined Steve Finley, John Vander Wal and Azar as the US outfielders. The US played in the 1986 Amateur World Series.

Kevin was not quite as good in 1987, but still tied for 9th in NCAA Division I in doubles (again 24) and tied Riccardo Ingram for 11th with 101 hits. The Pittsburgh Pirates took him in the 18th round of the 1987 amateur draft, one pick after Mike Gardiner. He made his pro debut with the Watertown Pirates, hitting .280/.331/.396 but fielded only .920 at SS. His 20 doubles tied Glenn Sullivan for second in the New York-Penn League. He also stole 20 bases in 24 tries, missing the top 10 in the loop by two.

He split 1988 between the Salem Buccaneers (.321/.388/.514 in 64 G) and Harrisburg Senators (.281/.329/.384 in 77 G), with a composite .299/.356/.442 line, 32 doubles, 14 homers, 82 runs and 71 RBI, though he made 18 errors at second base. Among Pirates minor leaguers, he was third in runs (behind Julio Peguero and Wes Chamberlain), first in hits (167, 24 ahead of Carlos Garcia), first in doubles (six ahead of Benny Distefano and John Love), tied Jeff King and Tommy Prince for second in homers (5 behind Distefano) and was 3rd in RBI (behind Ed Hartman and Garcia). Of those 8 players listed, 6 of them made the majors.

His climb continued in '89, with time spent with both Harrisburg (.285/.329/.390 in 96 G) and the AAA Buffalo Bisons (.293/.316/.374 in 36 G). He had 64 runs, 61 RBI and 22 doubles for the year, while cutting his error total to 11. He spent all of 1990 with Buffalo and was hitting .310, second in the 1990 American Association, as of July 6. The 1990 Pirates, though, were in first place and happy with the glovework of Jose Lind, so did not call him up. Then, on July 6, he was in the dugout when Chamberlain hit a foul that bounced off the back wall and hit Burdick in the nose; he broke his nose, had a separated septum and broken blood vessels and missed over two weeks, the first time he had ever missed time with injury. He hit .251 after his return to finish the year at .282/.327/.373.

Burdick ended his career with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in the Cleveland Indians chain, hitting .235/.299/.326 in 36 games. He had batted .285/.334/.397 in 490 pro games, with 275 runs and 233 RBI. He stole 45 bases in 63 tries and fielded .972 at 2B.