July 20th, 2011

BY CONNOR FARLEY

San Ramon, CA – The North American League, the premiere independent professional minor league in North America, is proud to announce that former Yuma Scorpion, Long Beach Armada, and Orange County Flyers player RHP Dane De La Rosa made his major league debut on Tuesday night with the Tampa Bay Rays. De La Rosa, 28, was called up from Triple-A Durham to strengthen the Rays struggling bullpen.

The Yankees drafted the 6’7” De La Rosa in the 2002 MLB June amateur draft. In 2005 he left the Yankees’ minor league system to join the Yuma Scorpions of the GBL. After moving to the Flyers in 2008, he had a record of 2-2 with a 4.41 ERA, 40 strikeouts, and only 13 walks. De La Rosa played for several independent teams before returning to affiliated baseball in 2010 with the Charlotte Knights and Montgomery Biscuits. After his promotion to Triple-A, he went 4-3 and had a 3.86 ERA with the Durham Bulls. During that time, he had 50 strikeouts and 21 walks over 46 innings.

In 1 inning of relief, De La Rosa had 2 earned runs, 1 strikeout, and 2 walks. He struck out Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira and forced second baseman Robinson Cano into a groundout before leaving the game.