Former Mets Relief Pitcher: Mike DeJean (2004-2005)

Michael Dwain DeJean was born on September 28, 1970 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The right handed Cajun boy was drafted out of the University of West Alabama in the 24th round in 1992 when he was still a shortstop. He was soon converted to a relief pitcher, and saved 16 or more games four times at various minor league levels.

He made the big leagues by 1997 debuting with the Colorado Rockies, going 5-0 with two saves & a 3.99 ERA in 55 appearances. He stayed in Colorado for four seasons, mostly as a mid reliever.

In April 2001 he was Traded along with Mark Leiter and Elvis Pena to the Milwaukee Brewers for Juan Acevedo, Kane Davis and Jose Flores. In Milwaukee he became a closer, saving 27 games with 1-5 record in 2002. He posted 18 saves in 2003 when he found himself traded to the St. Louis Cardinals toward the end of the season. From there he became a journey man middle reliever, going to the Baltimore Orioles where he was 0-5 before getting traded to the New York Mets in July 2004 for Karim Garcia.

Dejean made his Mets debut at Shea Stadium, on July 20th in a game against the Florida Marlins. He would pitch five scoreless innings, getting credit a hold in three appearances on that same home stand. He pitched well enough to post a 1.69 ERA with 24 strike outs in 21 innings pitched in 16 games with New York for the season.

In 2005 he earned an extra inning win, when Jose Reyes singled home Victor Diaz with the games winning run. In May he earned two more victories in a weeks time, pitching less than inning of work each outing.

On June 20th The Mets released him & he was picked up by the Rockies once again. Overall for the '05 Mets Dejean made 28 appearances going 3-1 with two holds, 17 strike outs in 25 innings pitched but had a high 6.21 ERA, allowing 36 hits & 18 earned runs. He finished his ten year career there that season, at age 35.

Lifetime he was 30-33 with 52 saves, 446 strike outs & 292 walks in 623 innings of work over 565 games pitched, posting a 4.30 ERA. Retirement: Mike runs his own baseball & softball academy in Monroe, Louisiana.