Bruce Hurst - Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox

Hurst was selected by the Bosox with the 22nd overall pick in the 1976 Major League Baseball Draft out of Dixie High School in St. George, Utah. After going 17-6 with a 2.88 earned run average for the Winter Haven & Bristol Red Sox in 1979, Hurst was put on Boston's opening day roster for 1980. He made his major league debut in relief in the second game of the season, giving up five earned runs in an inning of work in a 18-1 blowout at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers. He made six more appearances, all starts, before being optioned back to Pawtucket with a 10.57 ERA. He returned to the majors in August, ending the season with a 2-2 record and 9.10 ERA at the major league level.

Hurst went 12-7 with a 2.87 ERA for Pawtucket in 1981, and had actually retired from the game briefly before receiving a September call-up to Boston. In five major league starts, Hurst went 2-0 with a 4.30 ERA.

Hurst had gone 42-46 with a 4.59 ERA with the Bosox before his breakthrough 1986 season. Hurst posted a 2.99 ERA with 13 victories despite spending six midsummer weeks on the disabled list with a pulled groin. The Red Sox won the American League East by 5.5 games over the New York Yankees to head to the 1986 American League Championship Series against the California Angels. He went 1-0 with a 2.40 ERA in two starts in the American League Championship Series won by the Sox in seven games.