Giants ink DeRosa to a 2 year deal

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The San Francisco Giants have signed free agent infielder/outfielderMark DeRosa to a two-year contract, club Senior Vice President and General Manager Brian Sabean announced today. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

DeRosa, 34, batted .250 (129-for-515) with 23 doubles, a career-high 23 home runs while driving in 78 RBI in 139 games between Cleveland and St. Louis last season. He began last year with the Indians, batting .270 (75-for-278) with 13 homers and 50 RBI before being traded to the Cardinals in late June, where he hit .228 (54-for-237) with 10 home runs and 28 RBI.

“We see Mark as a great fit for us as we’ve been looking to add offense and veteran presence to our team,” said Sabean. “He has proven that he can hit for power and drive in runs, while performing at a consistently high level during the pressure of a pennant chase. His ability to play multiple positions both in the infield and outfield provides Bruce Bochy an opportunity to get our best team on the field each given day.”

The 6-foot-1, 205-pound native of Oradell, NJ, has shown versatility in the field throughout his career, playing over 100 career games at third base, shortstop, second base and the outfield.

Over each of the last four seasons since 2006, he has posted double-digit home run totals while recording 70+ RBI with an on-base percentage of .319 or higher. The right-handed hitter has hit particularly well in his career against left-handers, owning a .299 clip.

A veteran of postseason play, DeRosa owns a .358 (19-for-53) batting average with a home run and 10 RBI in 22 career postseason contests, including a .388 mark in 18 Division Series games. He hit .385 (5-for-13) in three postseason contests with the Cardinals last season. He has made the postseason in each of his last three seasons (CHI, NL 2007-08, STL, 2009) and his teams have made the playoffs in six of his nine-plus years in the Majors (ATL 2001-03).

DeRosa, who attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the Quakers’ starting quarterback from 1993-95, owns a career batting average of .275 (869-for-3,165) with 92 home runs and 430 RBI in 1,032 games with Atlanta (1998-2004), Texas (2005-06), Chicago-NL (2007-08), Cleveland (2009) and St. Louis (2009).

He was drafted in the seventh round by the Atlanta Braves in 1996.

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