Mark DeRosa taken out on stretcher at spring training

[BuckFoston]

Second baseman Mark DeRosa was taken out of the Chicago Cubs’ spring training complex on a stretcher and transported by ambulance to a hospital Saturday after experiencing an irregular heartbeat.

DeRosa was sitting up as he was wheeled out of the Fitch Park complex. Some of his teammates were still in the field winding up a day of workouts.

“Mark’s doing fine,” manager Lou Piniella said. “He came in with a rapid heartbeat from doing the things on the field and was having a little trouble breathing, so they called in the medical team.

“He’s completely stable, but better be safe than sorry. With the irregular heartbeat and so forth, they sent him to the hospital to test him and evaluate him. But he’s fine.”

A team spokesman said DeRosa felt faint but never lost consciousness.

“I talked to him. He was a little nervous and outside of that he’s OK,” Piniella said.

Team trainer Mark O’Neal accompanied DeRosa to the hospital.

“We’ll find out what the medical staff or doctor at the hospital tells us to do,” Piniella said. “I don’t expect this to be serious and don’t expect it to be too long.”

A team spokesman said the medical team was brought in so DeRosa could be hooked up to an EKG first and then be moved to the hospital for further testing. A team doctor was at the complex.

Shortstop Ryan Theriot said DeRosa started to have a problem during groundball practice Saturday.

“It wasn’t any one particular thing,” Theriot said. “It started to speed up on him, and I think he started to get a little worried.

“He was fine through the whole thing. I think it was just one of those deals. He was more scared than anything.”

DeRosa, who will turn 33 on Feb. 26, batted .293 in 149 games last season, his first with the Cubs.

Mark DeRosa taken out on stretcher at spring training - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

Thats kind of a scary thing to hear but its great to see that it sounds like he'll be okay. I'm a fan of DeRosa and I hope he can bounce back with no problems.

[DravenX]

Mark DeRosa will undergo outpatient surgery to eliminate his irregular heartbeat and should be ready to resume baseball activities early next week.
It'll probably be another 5-7 days after that before he works his way into games. Still, he'll have plenty of time to get ready for the beginning of the season.

At least it's not too long.