NEWS & MEDIA

Mark was drafted in the 15th Rd. by the Detroit Tigers out of high school but  chose to attend Stanford University. In 2012 Mark was drafted in the 1st Rd, 8th overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates but turned down the offer to return to Stanford for his senior year. In 2013 he was the 1st overall player taken in the 2013 MLB draft by the Houston Astros. In 2012, the Stanford Cardinal posted a 10-2 won-loss record with a 2.59 ERA and was named the National Pitcher of the Year and 1st Team All American. In his senior year he posted a 10-4 win-loss record, with a 2.14 Era and 130 strikeouts. Mark took his considerable talents to Newport after his freshman year, flashing a 94-98 MPH fastball, with a hard slider and devastating off-speed pitches evoking comparisons to a young Nolan Ryan. The 2010 summer in Newport, Mark took the league by storm; posting a 6-1 regular season win -loss record, 1.86 ERA, 43.1 innings pitched, giving up 33 hits with 24 strikeouts. In the 2010 NECBL playoffs, he was masterful winning his start by pitching 8 innings, no runs, two hits and 10 strikeouts.  

That summer Mark was named; NECBL Top Pro Prospect, All NECBL 1st Team, NECBL All Star Game Staring Pitcher, NECBL Co Leader in wins (6), and NECBL Pitcher of the Week. The following summer, Mark played for Team USA and returned to Cardines Field to play the Gulls. On June 29, 2022, Mark made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies. Mark is currently living in Houston, Texas.  

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The Newport Gulls, members of the 13-team New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded as the Rhode Island Gulls in 1998 in Cranston, R.I., before moving to Newport in 2001. In addition to recruiting, fielding, and developing a team of the nation’s top collegiate baseball athletes and attracting 50,000 fans annually to Cardines Field, the predominantly volunteer organization strives to benefit the community of Newport County via summer camps, reading programs, fundraisers, scholarships, and charitable donations – totaling over $1 million since 2001. The Gulls are six-time champions of the NECBL – the winningest franchise in league history – and were ranked as the overall No. 1 summer collegiate baseball team in the country by Perfect Game USA in 2012. 

For more information about the Newport Gulls, visit facebook.com/newportgulls, follow the Gulls on Twitter @NewportGulls or visit www.newportgulls.com. 

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