Mark Merila (born November 9, 1971) is a scout for the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

and a former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player.

Amateur career

Merila was born in

Litchfield, Minnesota Litchfield is a city in and the county seat of Meeker County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 6,624 at the 2020 census. History Immigration to the county was slow until the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad, later the ca ...

, and attended

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. While with the University of Minnesota, he played on the school's

baseball team Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding te ...

, and was named the

Big Ten Conference Baseball Freshman of the Year The Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year is an annual college baseball award presented to the Big Ten Conference's most outstanding freshman player. The award was first given following the 1988 season to Dan Wilson of Minnesota. Key Winners ...

in 1991 and

Big Ten Conference Baseball Player of the Year The Big Ten Conference Player of the Year is a baseball award given to the Big Ten Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1982 season, with both pitchers and position players eligible. After the 1994 season, ...

in 1994. In 1992, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Hyannis Mets The Hyannis Harbor Hawks, formerly the Hyannis Mets, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Hyannis, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Harbor Hawks play ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. Merila broke Minnesota single-season and career records for

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

with a .452 average in 1994 and a .393 career average. He was also selected an All-American second baseman in 1994. Near the end of his senior year at Minnesota, Merila was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which was treated with radiation therapy. He was drafted by

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

teams twice - first, he was taken in the 10th round of the 1993 draft, though he refused to sign. He was next taken by the Padres in the 33rd round of the 1994 draft, beginning his professional career that year.

Professional career

He played for the

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Color ...

in 1994, hitting .253 in 54 games. In 1995, he played for the

Idaho Falls Braves Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

, hitting .284 in 56 games. Overall, he hit .268 in his two-year career. He also pitched in two games, posting a 32.40 ERA. He retired from professional baseball due to a brain tumor. Following his playing career, he became the Padres' bullpen catcher. After the tumor returned in 2005, he was forced to give up his bullpen catching duties, however he still served as an aide to third base coach Glenn Hoffman. After recovering from his second bout of brain cancer, he returned to the job of bullpen catcher, then in 2012 was made a team scout.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merila, Mark Living people 1971 births Major League Baseball bullpen catchers San Diego Padres coaches San Diego Padres scouts Spokane Indians players Idaho Falls Braves players Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball players Hyannis Harbor Hawks players People from Litchfield, Minnesota