Garrett Cooper

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Garrett Nicholas Cooper

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Biographical Information[edit]

First baseman Garrett Cooper was a 6th round selection by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2013 amateur draft out of Auburn. He split his first season between the Helena Brewers and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, hitting .283/.350/.467 in 48 games. His 2014 season was abbreviated to 67 games split among three teams: the AZL Brewers and Wisconsin (both on a rehabilitation assignment) and the Brevard County Manatees of the Florida State League. With Brevard County, he .238/.330/.341 in 53 games. In 2015, he improved to .294/.356/.436 in 119 games with the Manatees and earned a late season promotion to the AA Biloxi Shuckers, where he hit .552 in 9 games. In 2016, he played 92 games at Biloxi and 36 in AAA with the Colorado Springs SkySox. In 128 games combined, his batting line was .292/.344/.423, with 9 homers and 69 RBI.

In 2017, he had an outstanding first half with Colorado Springs. Taking advantage of the favorable environment, he slugged 29 doubles and 17 homers and drove in 82 runs in 75 games with a .366 average. There was no room at the inn in Milwaukee, with the team playing very well and already possessing two good first basemen in Eric Thames and Jesus Aguilar. So, on July 13th, Garrett was traded to the New York Yankees for pitcher Tyler Webb. The situation was quite different in his new organization: the Yankees had just promoted Ji-Man Choi to New York and released veteran Chris Carter; two other first basemen, Greg Bird and Tyler Austin, were on the disabled list and, as a result, there was likely an opportunity for Garrett to prove his mettle. Indeed, after sending him to AAA, the Yankees immediately changed their minds and called him up to make his debut with a start against the Boston Red Sox on July 14th. He went 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts. After going hitless in second game, on July 16th, Cooper got his first big league hit off David Price of the Red Sox, a double off the Green Monster at Fenway Park. He went 6-for-25 (.240) in 8 games before being sent to AAA Scranton on August 1. He was called back less than a week later when DH Matt Holliday was placed on the disabled list. On August 9th, he had the first four-hit game of his career in an 11-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, raising his average to .364. On August 17th, he was placed on the disabled list with tendinitis in his left hamstring and did not play again, finishing the year at .326/.333/.488 in 13 games.

On November 20, 2017, he was traded to the Miami Marlins, along with pitcher Caleb Smith, for minor leaguer Mike King and international bonus money. He failed to make much of a dent in 2018, hitting .212/.316/.242 in only 14 games. In 2019, with the Marlins having moved just about anyone with a pulse making real dollars, Cooper got to make 97 starts split between first base and right field, batting .281/.344/.446 with 15 home runs and 52 runs scored in 107 total games. He belted his first home run on May 22nd against the equally miserable Detroit Tigers and socked his first grand slam a day later off Tiger relief ace Shane Greene. In 2020, the Marlins surprised everyone by qualifying for the expanded postseason resulting from the COVID-19 upheavals. He appeared in just 34 of the Marlins' 60 games that season but did well, hitting .283 with 6 homers and 20 RBIs for an OPS+ of 127. In the first postseason games of his career, he went 2 for 8 with a homer as the Marlins ambushed the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card Series, but 1 for 10 in their loss to the Atlanta Braves in the Division Series.

Cooper had two more full seasons with the Marlins in 2021 and 2022, hitting .284 in 71 games the first year, and making the All-Star team for the first - and so far only time of his career - the second year when he hit .261 in 119 games with 9 homers and 50 RBIs for a team devoid of star power. He was a productive hitter both years, with an OPS+ of 128 in 2021 and 112 in 2022. In 2023, he was hitting .256 with 13 homers after 82 games when he was acquired by the San Diego Padres at the trading deadline. He hit .239 in 41 games for San Diego, but somehow his OPS+ was higher there (101) that it had been in Miami (101). By now he had begun a bat for hire and in 2024 started the year with the Chicago Cubs. He hit .270 in 12 games in April, still productive although he was not finding much playing time on a younger team looking to make the postseason. He was designated for assignment on April 23rd and four days later was sold to the Boston Red Sox. The Sox had just placed 1B Triston Casas on the 60-day injured list and had few internal options to replace him, so he was almost guaranteed to get significant playing time over the next two months.

Notable Achievements[edit]

  • NL All-Star (2022)

Further Reading[edit]

  • Ian Browne: "Red Sox trade for Cooper to help fill hole at 1B", mlb.com, April 27, 2024. [1]

Related Sites[edit]

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