User:Ravenswing/Gulledge

Charles Kelley Gulledge (born January 25, 1979 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a professional baseball catcher who plays for the Las Vegas 51s in the AAA Pacific Coast League.

Gulledge is the son of former Texas Rangers official Chuck Gulledge and served as a bat boy for the Rangers while growing up. As a 16 year-old high school catcher for Mansfield High School, he caught the 1995 All-Star Game Home Run Derby in Texas. He was a USA Today High School All-American and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's player of the year in 1997. He left Mansfield as the team's all-time career leader in home runs, hits and RBI.

Despite being selected by the Rangers in the 35th round of the 1997 draft, he decided to attend the University of Alabama where he led the Crimson Tide to the 1999 College World Series.

In 2000, he was ranked ninth among all college prospects by Baseball America and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 10th round of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft.

He played in the Twins farm system with the Quad City River Bandits in 2000 & 2001, the Fort Myers Miracle in 2001-2002 and the New Britain Rock Cats in 2003.

He was released by the Twins mid-way through the 2003 season and signed as a minor league free agent with the Texas Rangers, who assigned him to the Stockton Ports.

Let go by the Rangers before the 2004 season, he played with the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks in the independent Northern League in 2004 and 2005 winning Independent Leagues and Northern League All-Star honors both seasons. In 2007 he played with the unaffiliated Fort Worth Cats in the American Association, hitting .302 in 76 games with 12 home runs and was named to the 2007 All-Independent Leagues second team.

He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers prior to the 2008 season and began the year with the AA Jacksonville Suns but was later promoted to the AAA Las Vegas 51s.