DeRosa lives 'Bull Durham'

Mark DeRosa spent this past weekend playing baseball in Winston-Salem, N.C., where he and the rest of his Durham (N.C.) Bulls teammates faced the hometown Warthogs. While cheap hotels and bus rides in North Carolina may not sound as appealing as life as a college student in Philadelphia, DeRosa is quite happy where he is. "I definitely don't regret my decision," DeRosa said. That decision was made last June, when the Penn football quarterback and baseball shortstop was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the seventh round of baseball's amateur draft. DeRosa decided to sign with the Braves and spent the rest of the summer playing for the Eugene (Ore.) Emeralds, the Braves' short-season Class A affiliate in the Northwest League. Ivy League rules do not allow athletes to play one sport professionally and remain eligible for football. So, instead of coming back last fall for a third season as the Quakers starting quarterback -- and possibly being ruled eligible for the 1997 season since he redshirted his freshman season -- DeRosa's athletic career at Penn was over. In 70 games in Eugene, DeRosa hit .259 with two home runs, 28 RBIs and 43 runs scored. Adjusting to professional pitching was tough, according to DeRosa. But what the experience taught him more than anything else was to take everything day by day. "What I learned was that the season is really long," DeRosa said. "You've got to control your emotions a lot and relax and not carry what you do on the field off of it. A lot of guys say that if you go 0-for-4, it's not the last time you'll go 0-for-4." After the season ended, DeRosa came back to Penn for the fall semester to continue his course work toward a degree. (He's about 10 classes short right now.) But, when winter rolled around, he got ready for baseball again. "I got invited to early spring training, which is where they bring 28 prospects in early for 2 1/2 weeks before everyone else," DeRosa said. "We get to interact with the big league club. It was cool. I got to interact in the cage with Fred McGriff and Ryan Klesko." DeRosa was expecting to be sent to Atlanta's Class A affiliate in Macon, Ga., the next rung up from Eugene in the Braves system. Instead, after a good spring, he was assigned to Durham in the Carolina League, which is also Class A, but is considered one step above Macon. "The organization made the decision based on how well he handled himself in spring training," Durham manager Paul Runge said. "He showed he could handle that kind of jump." DeRosa has been the Bulls starting shortstop all season and has played in 15 of the team's first 16 games. Through Sunday, he was batting .264 with no homers and just two RBIs. DeRosa has also made five errors, second most on the team. But Runge isn't concerned about DeRosa's defense. "He's played outstanding shortstop in the early going," Runge said. "He's not only making the routine plays, he's made some very good plays behind second base and in the hole." DeRosa said he's concentrating on playing good defense, and, although he hopes to hit better than most shortstops, he feels that his main responsibility is making sure the defense is solid. Still, Runge thinks DeRosa can work on his hitting, and he's making sure that DeRosa gets instruction from the Braves hitting coaches. "He needs more balance in his stance," Runge said. "His feet kind of move around in the batter's box. Some of it has to do with him trying too hard, and some of it has to do with his stance." If DeRosa becomes a more consistent hitter and polishes his defensive skills, Runge thinks he can move up to a higher level. And DeRosa thinks he's in a good situation. "One of the positions in the Braves minor league system that they're not as strong at is up the middle," DeRosa said. "There's a chance for people to move up." But he does not have any ideas about how fast he should advance or where he should be playing in a couple of years. "I don't want to put that pressure on myself right now," DeRosa said. "If I perform, I've got to move up. I'll let them decide when I'm ready." For now, DeRosa plans to be with Durham until August 30, when the season ends. He is tentatively registered for fall classes, but if the Braves send him to play winter ball, he'll have to go. If he does come back to Penn in the fall, he'll probably find it a bit difficult to watch Quakers football games. After all, he said he used to consider himself a football player first and a baseball player second. But it won't be as hard as last year. "Last year, it was tough to come back and live with those guys and have to watch the games," DeRosa said. "Slowly but surely in my mind I'm starting to think of myself as a baseball player."

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