Rocky Coppinger

[Michael Trzinski]

John Thomas “Rocky” Coppinger was born in El Paso, Texas in 1974. He was a three-sport star at Coronado High School in El Paso. Coppinger was selected in the 19th round of the 1993 MLB Amateur Draft by the Baltimore Orioles but didn’t sign, instead electing to attend Hill Junior College near Dallas. After a spectacular year at Hill, Coppinger signed with the Orioles in May 1994.

Coppinger made his big-league debut in 1996 after two solid seasons in the minors, and made 22 starts, winning 10 games and finishing fourth in the AL ROY voting. The big (6-foot-5, 245-pound) righty lost two-plus seasons to injuries and only appeared in 22 games for Baltimore and as a result, was traded to the Brewers in July 1999. Coppinger made 29 relief appearances for the Brewers over the last two months of the season.

His bad luck continued as he missed all of the 2000 season when he underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. Coppinger tried to make a comeback in 2001 and pitched well at two stops in the minors (1.97 ERA, 1.082 WHIP) across 31 games. He did not have as much luck in the last six weeks of the season in Milwaukee, amassing a FIP of 6.71 and WHIP of 1.721. Milwaukee released Coppinger after the season.

The Oakland Athletics signed him in 2002 and released him mid-season. Coppinger became an assistant to the general manager for the El Paso Diablos in the independent Central League in 2005 and even pitched in one game.

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