Mark Teixeira

Mark Charles Teixeira was born on April 11, 1980 in Annapolis, Maryland.

Mark is 6’3”, weighs 220 pounds, is a switch hitter, and throws right.

High School Mark grew up in Severna Park, Maryland. He attended Mount Saint Joseph High School in Baltimore, Maryland, where he played for the school’s varsity baseball team.

College Mark was chosen in the ninth round of the MLB amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox in 1998, straight out of high school. He chose not to sign with the Red Sox, however, and went on to play college baseball for Georgia Tech. In 2001, his batting average was .427. He won the Dick Howser Trophy as the national Collegiate baseball player of the year.

Minor Leagues In 2001, Mark re-entered the draft. He was selected by the Rangers with the fifth overall pick.

Mark began the 2002 season in the Florida State League, where he batted .320 with an OPS of 1.000 in 38 games. He was then moved up to the Class AA Tulsa Drillers: he batted .316 with a .994 OPS and ten home runs in 48 games.

2002 was the only year Mark played in the minors, the Rangers bought his contract out of spring training in 2003.

Majors As a rookie for the Rangers in 2003, Mark batted .259 with a .811 OPS and 26 home runs.

In 2004, he batted .281 with an OPS of .930, 38 home runs, and 112 runs batted in.

In 2005, Mark batted .301, with 43 home runs, and 144 RBIs at the end of the 2005 season, and earned the Silver Slugger Award, as well as the Gold Glove.

Mark finished the 2006 season with over 30 homers and 100 RBIs for the season.

On July 30, 2007, two weeks after turning down an eight-year, $140,000,000 contract extension from the Rangers, Mark was traded to the Atlanta Braves (along with left-handed reliever Ron Mahay) for catcher/first baseman Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and four prospects: shortstop Elvis Andrus, and starting pitchers Matt Harrison, Neftali Feliz and Beau Jones.

He made his Braves debut on August 1, 2007.

Mark was traded to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on July 29, 2008. He will be a free agent at the end of the season.

Personal Mark is of Portuguese ancestry. He and his wife, the former Georgia Leigh Williams, were married on December 7, 2002. They have a son, Jack Gordan and a daughter Addison Leigh.