Mark Teahen

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**Mark Teahen**

Kansas City Royals — No. 24
Right fielder
Born: September 6, 1981 (1981-09-06) (age 26)
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
April 4, 2005 for the Kansas City Royals
Selected MLB statistics (through 2007)
Batting average	.274
Home runs	32
RBIs	184
Teams
Kansas City Royals (2005-present)

Mark Thomas Teahen (pronounced /ˈtiːhɨn/, born September 6, 1981, in Redlands, California) is a Canadian Major League Baseball player for the Kansas City Royals. He graduated from Yucaipa High School in 1999 and attended St. Mary's College in California, and was drafted in the first round of the 2002 draft by the Oakland Athletics, 39th overall. Teahen was one of the featured players in the book Moneyball, which claimed that Teahen had the potential to become the next Jason Giambi.

1 Baseball career
2 Trivia
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Baseball career

Oakland traded him to Kansas City in 2004, along with Mike Wood, as part of a three-way trade that sent Carlos Beltran to the Houston Astros, Octavio Dotel from the Astros to the Athletics, and John Buck from the Astros to the Royals. Although he had been one of the most highly regarded prospects in the Oakland organization, he became available when the Athletics were able to sign Eric Chavez to a long-term contract.

Royals management did not expect Teahen to make the opening-day roster in 2005; however, after hitting .344 in spring training and after injuries sidelined potential third basemen Chris Truby and Chris Clapinski, the Royals announced Teahen would be their regular third baseman for 2005, and he made his major-league debut on April 4, 2005.

His first hit was a triple and he hit 4 homers in his last 17 games of 2005. Teahen hit .240 in his rookie season with KC. He had the lowest fielding percentage of all third basemen in the league, .947, and the lowest zone rating of all major league third basemen (.706).

In 2006, he hit .290 with 18 home runs and 69 RBIs. During July, he raised his performance level with 10 home runs and 35 RBIs during the 38 games ending August 2. He continued to hit well, but suffered an injury and had to have season-ending surgery on September 8.

Going into the 2007 season, Teahen moved from third base to right field because of the arrival of young prospect Alex Gordon^[1].

Teahen recently obtained dual Canadian-American citizenship^[2] since his father originates from St. Marys, Ontario.

[edit] Trivia

During important Teahen at-bats in the later innings of Royals' home games, a brief video montage is played on the Jumbotron. The screen is divided into four individual squares each showing different Teahen footage with the flashing digital 24 in the center while playing the 24 beep theme as background music. Teahen is 4-11 with 6 RBIs after the 24 montage has been played.