RetroSimba

(Updated Jan. 16, 2019)

Third baseman Mike Gulan was the first prospect named Cardinals minor league player of the year when the award was introduced in 1995.

In 122 games combined for Class AA Arkansas and Class AAA Louisville, Gulan had 17 home runs, 26 doubles and 77 RBI in 1995.

When Gulan followed that with another 17 home runs for Louisville in 1996, there was talk he could be the successor to Cardinals third baseman Gary Gaetti.

Gulan, however, injured his right elbow during a winter workout after the 1996 season. As he prepared to leave his Steubenville, Ohio, home for spring training in 1997, he reinjured the elbow while lifting a suitcase. When he reported to camp at St. Petersburg, Fla., he learned he had torn ligaments in the elbow.

Slowed by the injury, Gulan was sent back to Louisville for the 1997 season.

He was hitting .222 with two home runs for Louisville when he got a pleasant surprise on May 13, 1997. The Cardinals, decimated by injuries, promoted him to the major leagues.

Gulan made his big-league debut the next night, May 14, 1997, in a game at Philadelphia. Starting at third base and batting sixth, he went 0-for-5 with two runs scored and a RBI. In the fifth inning, with runners on first and third and one out, Gulan grounded into a forceout, scoring Ray Lankford from third. Boxscore

“He has some ability,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He has nice hands, a nice arm and he has extra-base pop in his bat. So he’s a legitimate prospect.”

Gulan appeared in five games for the 1997 Cardinals, going hitless in nine at-bats, before being returned to Louisville.

In April 1998, the Cardinals released him. A month later, he signed with the Marlins. He spent more than three seasons in their minor-league system before getting a second chance at the majors. He went hitless again (0-for-6) in six games with Florida in 2001.

After playing in Japan in 2002, Gulan returned to the U.S. and played in the farm systems of the Pirates and White Sox. At 33, his playing career ended when he was released by the White Sox in July 2004.