Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox baseball biography

Mark Alan Mulder (born August 5, 1977) is an American former professional baseball player. A left-handed starting pitcher, Mulder pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals. He is a two-time All-Star.

Early lifeEdit

Mark Alan Mulder was born on August 5, 1977, in South Holland, Illinois.

College careerEdit

Mulder attended Michigan State University, where he played college baseball for the Michigan State Spartans.<ref name=spartans>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1997, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Bourne Braves, and was named a league all-star.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Professional careerEdit

Draft and minor leaguesEdit

Mulder was selected by the Oakland Athletics with the second overall pick in the 1998 MLB draft.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Oakland Athletics (2000–2004)Edit

He was placed on the fast trackTemplate:Clarify to MLB and made his MLB debut on April 18, Template:Baseball year; he was still only 22 years old and had less than two seasons of minor-league experience. He had a rocky start to his MLB career, going 9–10 with a 5.44 ERA.

In Template:Baseball year, Mulder played his first full major-league season and quickly became a dominant pitcher. Leading the American League with 21 wins, he anchored a powerful Oakland rotation along with Barry Zito and Tim Hudson, called "The Big Three".Template:Citation needed Mulder finished second in AL Cy Young Award voting behind Roger Clemens. He continued to do well in Template:Baseball year, winning 19 games and striking out a career-high 159 batters in 207.1 innings. Limited by injuries in Template:Baseball year, he would only log 26 starts, he still won 15 games and had a career-best 3.13 ERA. Template:Baseball year was an inconsistent year for Mulder. He started the season strong, and was chosen to start that season's All-Star Game. However, he had a higher ERA and walked more batters in the second half of the season.

Mulder, Hudson, and Zito were able to carry their team to the postseason four seasons in a row (2000–2003). Mulder competed in the playoffs in 2001 and 2002, logging two starts each against the New York Yankees (2001) and the Minnesota Twins (2002). He carried over his strong regular-season performance by pitching 24 innings in the four playoff starts, with an ERA of 2.25 and 19 strikeouts.

St. Louis Cardinals (2005–2008)Edit

After the 2004 season, the Athletics traded Mulder to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Dan Haren, Kiko Calero, and Daric Barton.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In the 2005 season, Mulder's first with the Cardinals, he pitched well, 16–8 with a 3.64 ERA. His efforts helped the Cardinals reach the NLCS, where they lost to the Houston Astros.<ref name="mulder">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Mulder began the 2006 season strong, with a 5–1 record and 3.69 ERA through May 17. However, his next six starts were mediocre to awful, and his ERA ballooned to 6.09. He turned out to be suffering from rotator cuff and shoulder problems, and the Cardinals placed him on the disabled list on June 23. In August, he was taken off the disabled list and made several starts in the minors. On August 23, he made his first major-league start in two months and gave up nine runs, all of which were earned, in three innings.

After undergoing rotator cuff surgery, and with a return for the opening of the 2007 season unlikely, Mulder's future with the Cardinals looked somewhat uncertain in the 2007 offseason. However, despite being offered comparable deals with the Cleveland Indians and the Texas Rangers, Mulder re-signed with the St. Louis Cardinals on January 10, to a two-year $13 million contract, with performance-based incentives and a club option that could take the deal to three years at a possible $45 million.

After being re-activated on September 5, 2007, he continued to struggle with his command, losing all three of his starts with an ERA of 12.27. In that time, he pitched only 11 innings, and gave up 22 hits and seven walks. This prompted an MRI scan, which led the team to the conclusion that Mulder needed additional clean-up rotator cuff surgery. Although he was expected to recover from surgery in time for Spring training, Mark started the 2008 season on the disabled list. On June 30, 2008, Mulder made his return. He came in from the bullpen with a 7–1 lead over the New York Mets in the top of the ninth. Mulder finished the ballgame with no runs. On July 9, 2008, Mulder started his first game of the season against the Philadelphia Phillies. After striking out Jimmy Rollins to begin the game, Mulder threw eight consecutive pitches out of the strike zone, and left the game with a shoulder injury while attempting a pickoff throw.Template:Citation needed

After the 2008 season, the Cardinals chose not to exercise Mulder's $11 million option for the 2009 season, instead buying out his contract for $1.5 million.<ref>Cards are done with MulderTemplate:Dead link</ref> After remaining unsigned, Mulder announced his retirement on June 15, 2010, saying "I guess I have retired."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

2014 comeback attemptEdit

While watching the 2013 MLB postseason, Mulder began to mimic the throwing motion of Paco Rodriguez, and felt the hand separation at the top of the delivery felt natural.<ref name=achilles /> Mulder began auditioning for teams in November 2013.<ref name=angels /> On January 1, 2014, Mulder came to terms with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.<ref name=angels>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Mulder expressed going into spring training that his shoulder felt strong, but wondered about the susceptibility of his lower back and legs to injury. On February 15, Mulder tore his achilles tendon. He suffered the injury in agility drills on the second day of spring training, before he was scheduled to throw his first bullpen session.<ref name=achilles>Template:Cite news</ref> The Angels released Mulder on March 11.

AccomplishmentsEdit

  • Led American League in wins in 2001 (21)
  • Led American League pitchers in complete games in 2003 (9) and 2004 (5)
  • Led American League in shutouts in 2001 (4) and 2003 (2)
  • American League All-Star, 2003 and 2004

Post-playing careerEdit

After first retiring from baseball, Mulder pursued golf.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He won the 2015 American Century Championship, considered to be the ‘premier’ celebrity golf tournament. He won it again in 2016, successfully defending his title. On July 16, 2017, he won his third straight American Century Championship. In October 2018, he played in a PGA Tour event, the Safeway Open, via a sponsor's invitation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Mulder is annually one of the contenders at what is now the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. He won the celebrity division in 2017.Template:Citation needed

He also served as an analyst on ESPN's Baseball Tonight,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and as part-time analyst for Athletics telecasts on NBC Sports California in 2016 and 2017.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See alsoEdit

Template:Portal

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

{{#if:||* }}Career statistics from {{#invoke:String|join|Template:Space·Template:Space|{{#if: 150426 | MLB | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata MLB Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: 4232 | ESPN | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata ESPN Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: m/muldema01 | Baseball Reference | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata.shtml Baseball Reference Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: 932 | Fangraphs | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata Fangraphs Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: mulder001mar | Baseball Reference (Minors) | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata Baseball Reference (Minors) Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: M/Pmuldm001 | Retrosheet | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata.htm Retrosheet Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: | Baseball Almanac | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata Baseball Almanac Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}}}{{#if: m/muldema01 mulder001mar 4232 932 150426 M/Pmuldm001

         Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata
  | 
  | Template:Main other Error: Template:Baseballstats must contain at least one valid parameter name.
  }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters | check
  | unknown = Template:Main other
  | preview = Page using Template:Baseballstats with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"
  | ignoreblank = y | br | brm | espn | fangraphs | id | mlb | retro | nobullet | almanac
  }}

Template:S-start Template:S-ach Template:Succession box Template:S-end

Template:1998 MLB Draft Template:Athletics first-round draft picks Template:Oakland Athletics Opening Day starting pitchers Template:AL wins champions Template:BaseballTonight Template:ESPN Major League Baseball Template:Willie, Mickey and the Duke Award