Nick Tropeano

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Nicholas Paul Tropeano

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Biographical Information[edit]

Starting pitcher Nick Tropeano began playing in the Houston Astros minor league system in 2011. A true-blue product of Long Island, NY, he was born, grew up and went to high school and college on the island before being drafted by the Astros in the 5th round of the 2011 amateur draft and being signed by scout John Kosciak for a bonus of $155,700.

He began his collegiate career at Stony Brook University in 2009, with his 2010 and 2011 seasons of particular note. In 2010, he went 8-4 with a 2.44 ERA in 14 starts, striking out 106 batters in 99 2/3 innings. In 2011, he was 12-1 with a 1.84 ERA in 14 starts, with 119 Ks in 93 innings.

In his first professional season in 2011, he went 3-2 with a 2.36 ERA in 12 starts, striking out 63 batters in 53 1/3 innings for the Tri-City ValleyCats. The following year, he was 12-7 with a 3.02 ERA in 27 games (26 starts) between the Lexington Legends and Lancaster JetHawks. He also had 166 strikeouts in 158 innings. In 2013, Tropeano went 7-10 with a 4.11 ERA in 28 games (20 starts), K-ing 130 batters in 133 frames. He spent the 2014 season in AAA with the Oklahoma City RedHawks, going 9-5, 3.03 in 23 games and striking out 120 in 124 2/3 innings,

The Astros made Nick a September call-up in 2014 and he was a winner in his debut on September 10th, defeating the Seattle Mariners, 5-2. He struck out the first batter he faced, Austin Jackson and gave up 2 runs in 5 innings. He went 1-3, 4.57 in 4 starts then after the season, on November 5th, he was traded to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim with C Carlos Perez in return for Hank Conger. He started the 2015 season in the minors with the Salt Lake Bees, before being called up for a spot start on April 23rd. He made the most of his opportunity, keeping the Oakland Athletics scoreless into the 7th before handing the ball to the bullpen, and in spite of the A's limiting the Angels to a single hit, they still won, 2-0. He pitched 8 times for L.A., including 7 starts, ending up at 3-2, 3.82. With Salt Lake, he was 3-6, 4.81 in 16 starts and also made a couple of rehabilitation appearances with the AZL Angels.

Tropeano again had health issues in 2016. He made only a couple of minor league appearances, spending the bulk of his time in Los Angeles over the first half and was a solid 3-2, 3.56 in 13 starts and 68 1/3 innings. However, his season ended after a start on July 18th when he lasted only a couple of innings and felt some elbow discomfort. It turned out that the pain was caused by a torn UCL, requiring Tommy John surgery. He was the third Angels starter to undergo the procedure that season, following Garrett Richards and Andrew Heaney. After missing all of 2017, he returned to make 14 starts in 2018, going 5-6, 4.74 and pitching 76 innings. However, he was unable to build on that, as he made just 3 appearances at the major league level in 2019, putting up an ERA of 9.88 in 13 2/3 innings.

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