Lonnie Kauppila

Lonnie V. Kauppila

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 179 lb.
• School Stanford University, University of Southern California
• High School Burbank (CA) High School

• Born January 17, 1992 in Glendale, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Infielder Lonnie Kauppila played two seasons in the minors in the Seattle Mariners organization after being selected in the 16th round of the 2013 amateur draft out of Stanford University. There he had been a regular for three seasons, batting between .271 and .298, albeit with almost no power - just 1 homer and 25 extra-base hits over 438 at-bats. He had earlier been drafted in the 44th round of the 2010 amateur draft, by the Oakland Athletics, coming out of high school, but had not signed. He alsomplayed for the Fairbanks Goldpanners during his summers in college.

In his first pro season, in 2013, he batted .221/.289/.279 in 45 games between the AZL Mariners and Everett AquaSox of the Northwest League. He played for two other teams in 2014, the Clinton LumberKings of the Midwest League and the High Desert Mavericks of the California League. In 74 games, he batted .290/.341/.332 with 10 doubles, but no other extra-base hits, a line very similar to what he had done in college. In the pros, he was used at second base, third base and shortstop, and appeared in one game as a pitcher. The highlight of his career came with Clinton on May 7, 2014, when the team fell into a seemingly insurmountable 17-1 hole against the Burlington Bees. His teammates somehow managed to rally and take the game into extra innings. In the 12th, Justin Seager drove in the go-ahead run, and he followed with a two-run pinch-single that gave his team a 20-17 lead, which they managed to hold on to for one of the greatest comebacks in professional baseball history.

After baseball, he attended the graduate business school at the University of Southern California and became a financial analyst and investment banker.

His unusual and often mis-spelled last name is of Finnish origin; he also has Greek and Japanese ancestry.

Related Sites

• Stanford bio