5/15/15

New Met - 1B David Cooper


David Cooper
Cooper with the Toronto Blue Jays
New York Mets
First baseman
Born: February 12, 1987 (age 28)
Stockton, California
Bats: LeftThrows: Left
MLB debut
April 29, 2011 for the Toronto Blue Jays
Career statistics
(through 2012 season)
Batting average.270
Hits57
Home runs6
Runs batted in23
Teams

Minor League career[edit]

Cooper played college baseball for the Cal State Fullerton Titans baseball team before finishing his college career with the California Golden Bears baseball team. In his junior season he hit .359/.449/.682 with 19 home runs and 55 RBIs, attracting the attention of professional scouts. Cooper was one of many first base prospects taken in the first round of the draft after other highly regarded college hitters such as Yonder AlonsoBrett Wallace, and Justin Smoak. In scouting reports prior to the draft Cooper was regarded as a highly polished college bat who can hit for both average and plus home run power in the majors. Defensively he is limited and will either play at 1B or DH at the major league level.[3]
He was drafted with the 17th overall pick of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays. He was playing with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s in the Blue Jays organization, until he was called up to the Blue Jays on April 29, 2011.[4][5]

Major League career[edit]

Toronto Blue Jays[edit]

Cooper made his major league debut on April 29, 2011, against the New York Yankees, playing the DH position and batting 7th in the line-up. He walked in his first plate appearance, and struck out in his first official at-bat. He finished the game 0–4.[6] He recorded his first career RBI the next day in a 5-4 loss to the Yankees, and his first career hit on May 1 against Ivan Nova.[7] On May 10, Cooper hit his first career home run, a solo shot off of Boston Red Sox reliever Daniel Bard, and followed that up with a game winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning.[8] Cooper was demoted back to Triple-A on May 15, and after almost 4 months with Las Vegas, he was included in the Blue Jays' September call-ups and re-debuted on September 8.
Cooper did not make the Blue Jays roster out of spring training and began the 2012 season at Las Vegas. Cooper was hitting .298 with 6 HR and 34 RBI in 42 games when on May 25, he was promoted to Toronto after Ben Francisco was placed on the 15-day DL.[9]
Cooper was optioned to the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s on June 24, 2012.[10] He was recalled on July 30 to replace Adam Lind, who was placed on the disabled list due to a mid-back strain,[11] On February 17, 2013, the Blue Jays announced that Cooper will miss all of spring training due to a serious back injury, and is seeking treatment for a disc issue.[12][13] Cooper was released by the Blue Jays on March 13, 2013.[14]
Cooper underwent back surgery in April 2013 and had a titanium plate and two titanium screws placed in his T7 and T8 vertebrae to reinforce his spine.[15]

Cleveland Indians[edit]

On August 13, 2013, Cooper signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians. It included an opt out clause if he didn't make the major league club by late August.[16]He played seven games with the Columbus Clippers before being granted free agency on August 31.
Cooper signed a new major league deal with the Indians on December 9, 2013.[17] He was designated for assignment on March 2, 2014 when Justin Sellers was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers,[18] and was outrighted to Triple-A on March 4.[19]

Lancaster Barnstormers[edit]

On March 25, 2015, Cooper signed with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.[20]

New York Mets[edit]

On May 14, 2015, Cooper was signed by the New York Mets, and assigned to the Double-A Binghamton Mets.[21]

2006Cal State FullertonBigWestNCAA17fr1955151164690237019181454.305.337.404741.099.152.3242.0075.561170
2007CaliforniaPac10NCAA18so2055204397814012552430211276.382.450.6271077.245.382.3710.7017.0128244
2008CaliforniaPac10NCAA18jr2156220557914019550137352044.359.449.6821131.323.486.3530.9511.6150263
2008AuburnNYPLA--tor1b212185102910122101101602005.341.411.553964.212.318.4031.6042.54795
2008LansingMidwA-tor1b212496153410021700101400000.354.415.521936.167.271.4001.4048.050106
2008DunedinFSLA+-tor1b21249210289011300101601003.304.373.435808.130.239.3601.6092.040102
2009New HampshireEastAA18tor1b22128473621223201066005992230417.258.340.389729.131.256.2991.5647.3184538
2010New HampshireEastAA9tor1b2313249859128301207800527411029.257.327.442769.185.289.2661.4224.9220553
2011Las VegasPCLAAA24tor1b2412046777170511996136743260914.364.439.535974.171.310.3800.6451.9250545
2011Toronto Blue JaysALMLB40
30
tor1b-dh2471915702120071410022.211.284.394678.183.282.2282.0035.52881
2012Las VegasPCLAAA24tor1b256826145822711052013734140513.314.395.540935.226.364.3240.9226.1141304
2012Toronto Blue JaysALMLB30tor1b2514016421104110142210001.300.324.464788.164.186.3335.5035.065145
2013AZL IndiansArizRk-cle1b266254113005002100000.440.481.5601041.120.200.4580.50--1427
2013ColumbusILAAA-cle1b26726150001002200000.192.250.192442.000.077.2081.00--528
2014ColumbusILAAA0cle1b274014313327001400201400005.224.319.273592.049.189.2480.70--39163
MLB Totals (2 Seasons)72211255718062301113620023.270.310.441751.171.218.2983.2735.293226
MLB: Average per 162 Games16247556128410145202258150057.270.310.441751.171.218.2983.2735.2209509
Minor League Totals (7 seasons)57021662966411794543631526930661702066.296.372.457829.161.283.3211.1440.19902461

1 comment:

Tom Brennan said...

Seems the choice was, promote Conforto to AA and move Boyd back to first and make room, or sign Cooper. Conforto's lack of hitting lately makes the Cooper move make sense. Give Conforto time to get hot for St Lucie for a stretch before promoting him.