Happy birthday, Nick Gorneault

Happy 41st birthday to Nick Gorneault, a player who is a former Texas Ranger, kind of, but kind of isn’t — I guess it all depends on your point of view.

Gorneault was a righthanded hitting outfielder who was a 19th round pick of the Anaheim Angels in the 2001 draft out of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.. Gorneault, whowas a senior when he was drafted, played in short season ball in 2001 after being drafted, then low-A in 2002. In 2003 he put up a 907 OPS splitting the season between the Cal League and the Texas League, and also played in the Arizona Fall League.

Gorneault showed enough to make the back half of the Baseball America top 30 prospect list for the Angels after 2003, 2004 and 2005, a corner outfielder who could play some CF if he had to with a decent bat, though old for his level at each stop.

Gorneault spent part of 2004 in Salt Lake City in the PCL, then all of 2005-07 as well, save for a brief stint in the majors in the middle of 2007, when he appeared in a pair of games for the Angels, on June 30 and July 1.

Gorneault was waived by the Angels in October, 2007, and claimed by the Texas Rangers on October 29, 2007. The season was obviously over, and Gorneault spent about six weeks on the Rangers’ 40 man roster before being non-tendered on December 12, 2007, having never played a game, donned a jersey, or probably done anything with the Rangers.

Gorneault spent the 2008 season in the Houston Astros’ minor league system, the 2009 season in the Toronto Blue Jays’ minor league system, and 2010 back with the Angels. He never made it back to the big leagues, and it doesn’t appear he’s played in organized ball since 2010.

However, he was a major leaguer — he went 0 for 4 with a walk in 5 major league plate appearances over 2 games, but he beat the odds and got to The Show.

And he’s sort of, kind of, a former Texas Ranger.