the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Carlstadt NJ, Mark DeRosa from Carlstadt was named  manager for Team USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. DeRosa was put in charge of an absolutely loaded roster that will surely be one of the favorites when the tournament begins in March. Mike Trout (captain), Bryce Harper, Nolan Arenado, J.T. Realmuto, Trevor Story, Paul Goldschmidt and Pete Alonso have already made commitments to the team ahead of the official roster release this February, giving DeRosa plenty of talent to work with.

DeRose said , “I could argue, this is the greatest team that’s ever been assembled.”

DeRosa is a product of Carlstadt, New Jersey. Mark’s early playing experience came with Carlstadt’s Little League team, which was sponsored by General Tire and coached by his Dad, Jack. He attended Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell, New Jersey, where he earned all-state honors in baseball and in football.

DeRosa was offered football scholarships to the College of William & Mary as well as Rutgers University, Mark opted instead to attend the University of Pennsylvania, preferring its academic reputation and the opportunity to play baseball as well. After redshirting as a freshman, he became the starting quarterback for the Quakers in 1994, leading them to an undefeated season and an Ivy League championship. He led them to another Ivy League championship in 1995. Passing for 3,895 yards and 25 touchdowns during his career, he became one of the top quarterbacks in school history.

Meanwhile, DeRosa also played shortstop on the baseball team. In 1995, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Bourne Braves. Originally expected to be a reserve, he became the team’s starting third baseman when Troy Glaus departed to play for a national team. Batting over .300, he was selected to the league’s All-Star team.

DeRosa then chose to sign when the Braves selected him in the seventh round (212th overall) of the 1996 MLB draft. Braves Manager Bobby Cox once spoke of Mark as being one of his favorite players that he ever coached.

Mark’s Mom “Mickey” posted these special words earlier this week about Mark’s experience. “I was born and raised and lived in Carlstadt for 62 years and raised my family there. But I just had to tell you all about how proud I am of my son Mark, for those of you who don’t know who he is. He was a major league baseball player for 16 years, a product of the Carlstadt, Little League, and for the past 8 year he’s been an analyst for major league baseball channel with a TV show in the morning called MLB Central. “

The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament that features national teams from around the world competing against each other. The tournament was first held in 2006 and is currently held every four years.

The 2023 World Baseball Classic is the fifth edition of the tournament and is scheduled to take place from March 9 to March 23, 2023. The tournament will feature 20 national teams from around the world, divided into four groups of five teams each. The first round of the tournament will be played in four different locations: Tokyo, Japan; Taichung, Taiwan; Guadalajara, Mexico; and Miami, Florida.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the second round, which will be held in Tokyo and Miami. The top two teams from each second-round pool will then advance to the semifinals and finals, which will be held at Marlins Park in Miami.

The previous World Baseball Classic was held in 2017, and the United States won the championship for the first time, defeating Puerto Rico in the final.