Mark Anthony Woodyard (born December 19, 1978) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

, who played three games in

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), ...

(MLB) for the 2005

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

. He batted and threw right-handed. Woodyard played high school baseball as a pitcher at Mobile County High School in

Grand Bay, Alabama Grand Bay is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Mobile metropolitan area. The population was 3,460 at the 2020 census. History According to local accounts, ...

. In his senior year, he helped lead the team to the Alabama 4A Baseball Championship. After graduation, Woodyard attended Bethune-Cookman University. He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 4th round of the

2000 Major League Baseball draft First round selections Compensation picks Background The Florida Marlins made Adrián González of Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, California the first overall selection in the 2000 First-Year Player Draft. González, who was rated as ...

. In three games, Woodyard pitched in six innings with a 1.50

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA). After becoming a free agent following the 2006 season, Woodyard played for the independent St. George Starzz of the Golden Baseball League and Newark Bears of the Atlantic League in 2007. After sitting out the 2008 season, he signed with the independent Grand Prairie AirHogs of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

on January 26, 2009, but was traded to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the Atlantic League on March 5. However, Woodyard never pitched for either team, and has not played professionally since.

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Mark Woodyard
at Baseball Almanac Major League Baseball pitchers Detroit Tigers players Oneonta Tigers players West Michigan Whitecaps players Lakeland Tigers players Erie SeaWolves players Toledo Mud Hens players St. George Starzz players Newark Bears players Bethune–Cookman Wildcats baseball players Northwest Florida State Raiders baseball players Baseball players from Alabama 1978 births Living people {{US-baseball-pitcher-1970s-stub