Rangers call up ex-convict, former No. 1 pick Bush
Matt Bush will finally make his big-league debut.
The Texas Rangers officially called up Bush, the first overall pick in the 2004 draft, on Friday.
The 30-year-old comes with a sensational backstory. Drafted as a shortstop by the San Diego Padres, he was converted to the mound in 2007 after he couldn't swing the bat, yet continued to throw 95 mph.
He was dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays in 2009, released a month later, and then scooped up by the Tampa Bay Rays nine months after that.
But an inability to stay in pro ball was the least of his problems.
"I was so depressed. I was going to kill myself or die or do something," Bush said in an interview with ESPN's Eli Saslow. "When I was the first pick and I wasn't performing the way a first pick should have, I couldn't handle it. I felt like a failure.
"I hated myself at practice or during the game until the end of the day, when I could grab my keys and hop into my nice expensive car and feel like somebody. Those were my devils: money, fame, and expectations. I was hollow inside."
Bush struggled with alcohol abuse and served more than three years in prison for his third DUI conviction after running over a 72-year-old motorcyclist with a teammate's Dodge Durango. The motorcyclist was seriously injured.
Bush stayed away from baseball during his first two years in jail, but couldn't stop thinking about the man he nearly killed. Bush eventually wrote the man a letter of apology, and although he said he forgave Bush, they never spoke face to face.
"I forced myself to think about it every day in prison because I deserved to suffer," Bush said.
As he began work at a Golden Corral with a government-issued tracking device around his ankle, only one team in professional baseball acknowledged his existence - the Rangers. Bush's routine was simple: go to work in the morning, eat at the buffet, and play catch with his former minor-league coach Roy Silver on his breaks.
Silver, a player advisor for the club, helped another former No. 1 pick sober up and regain his form - Josh Hamilton. Following Bush's release from prison, the Rangers took a chance, signing him to a minor-league deal in December in what appears to be his last shot at baseball.
In 12 games with the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders this season, he's done his part. Bush has five saves, 18 strikeouts, and four walks in 17 innings pitched, and he sits consistently at 100 mph.