Mark DeRosa (born February 26, 1975 in Passaic, New Jersey attended Bergen Catholic High School in New Jersey, with Luke Petitgout, and Jim Finn (professional football players in the NFL). DeRosa is a Major League Baseball player who is currently with the Texas Rangers. DeRosa plays infield and bats right-handed. DeRosa was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 7th round of the June 1996 free agent draft. In 975 career at bats, he has 17 home runs and 99 RBI's. He has a .266 batting average, and 135 runs scored. DeRosa has 259 career hits.
DeRosa started the 2004 season as the starting third baseman for the Braves. He had been strictly a backup the previous year, but the departure of Vinny Castilla opened the spot for him. His performance as a starter was widely considered unacceptable. Even he admitted he was not playing well. He spoke in one interview about how even his mother couldn't tell him she thought he was playing well. After about a month, DeRosa was demoted back to a backup. Chipper Jones moved from left field to third base, where he had played his whole career until 2002. Jones was replaced in left field by a platoon of Charles Thomas, an unknown rookie, and Eli Marrero, a fairly obscure catcher/outfielder who was considered the much less important half of the trade in which the Braves acquired him and J. D. Drew.
He is married to model Heidi Miller with whom he has a daughter, Gabriella Faith, and still resides in Atlanta.
Mark DeRosa Baseball-Reference Page
