Mark Budaska

Mark David Budaska

• Bats Both, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 180 lb.
• School Pierce College
• High School Granada Hills High School
• Debut June 6, 1978
• Final Game August 18, 1981
• Born December 27, 1952 in Sharon, PA USA

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Biographical Information

Mark Budaska began his professional playing career in 1973 with the Lewiston Broncs in the Northwest League after signing as an amateur free agent. He gradually rose through the Oakland Athletics minor league system until making his major league debut on June 6, 1979. He played four games for the A's that season before returning to the minor leagues. Budaska's next appearance in The Show did not come until 1981. Overall, Budaska played 13 games with Oakland and hit .167 (6-for-36) with 2 doubles. Budaska finished his playing career in 1982 with the Yokohama Taiyo Whales in the Japanese Central League.

Budaska was away from professional baseball for many years before starting a coaching career in the Taiwan Major League in 1998. He was a hitting & first base coach for the Kaoping Fala in 1998-1999 and Chianan Luka in 2000. Budaska returned to the States in 2001 and was a hitting coach for the Arkansas Travelers in the Anaheim Angels organization. The Travelers won the Texas League Championship that year and Budaska's hitters finished fourth in the league with a .266 team batting average. The Boston Red Sox hired Budaska as a hitting coach for the Portland Sea Dogs in 2003. He spent the next four years as the hitting coach for the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox.

In 2008 Budaska switched to the St. Louis Cardinals organization and spent most of 2008-2018 as a hitting coach for the Memphis Redbirds. After the 2008 season he worked as the hitting coach for the Honolulu Sharks in the Hawaii Winter League. On June 9, 2017, Budaska was promoted from Triple-A to his first major league coaching job, becoming assistant hitting coach to replace Bill Mueller as part of a coaching shuffle. This was only a temporary assignment and he returned to Memphis on June 27th. The following year, on July 15, 2018, he was called up again, this time to take over as hitting coach for John Mabry, who had just been let go. He stayed until the end of the season on an interim basis. In 2019 Budaska was named the Cardinals assistant hitting coach. Alas, due to differences with hitting coach Jeff Albert, the Cardinals fired Budaska on August 12th. This brought an end to Budaska's coaching career.

In addition to coaching in Taiwan, Budaska also coached in Venezuela. He was the hitting coach for the Tigres de Aragua of the Venezuelan League from 2010/2011 through 2012/2013.