Tony Cogan

Anthony Michael Cogan (born December 21, 1976) is a retired American professional baseball pitcher. He played part of one season in Major League Baseball in 2001 for the Kansas City Royals. Cogan, who has been listed as 6' 2", bats and throws left-handed.

Baseball career

High school & college

Cogan, who is Jewish, attended Highland Park High School, which he graduated in 1995. He threw three no-hitters in his senior season, and was an All-Conference and All-Area selection. Summer of his junior and senior years in high school he played for the Norwood Blues.^[1]

Cogan attended Stanford University, where he was a star pitcher. As a sophomore in 1997 he was Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 Southern Division. He holds the school record for career appearances with 107 (all but one were in relief), and the school single season record of 36. He was 18–7 in his college career, and his 15 saves is tied for the 5th-highest total in Stanford history.^[1] He was selected as Stanford’s Most Inspirational Player in 1999.^[2]

Professional ball

Cogan was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 12th round of the 1999 amateur draft.

He moved his way from Single A to Triple A in 1999–2001. In 1999 he was a Northwest League All-Star, as he finished the season with a 1.36 ERA in 39.2 innings. In 2000, he played with three different teams in the Royals organization and was 9–7 overall record with a 2.85 ERA.

Cogan debuted in the major leagues in his third season of professional ball, on April 2, 2001. He pitched in 39 games in relief for the Kansas City Royals that year, and had a 5.84 ERA. He then appeared in nine games for Omaha of the Pacific Coast League, where he had a 1–1 record, with 2 saves and a 2.79 ERA.

He pitched in Double A ball for the Wichita Wranglers in the Texas League in 2002, going 4–6 with a 3.47 ERA, in 17 games (starting 16). On September 7, however, the Kansas City organization released Cogan.

Before the 2003 season, Cogan was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals and assigned to the club's AAA affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds. Placed on the disabled list in mid-April after shoulder surgery, he was released by St. Louis on June 13 and did not play the rest of the season.

In 2005 and 2006 Cogan pitched in independent ball for the Sioux Falls Canaries. In 2006, he went 7–5, ranking fourth in the American Association with a 3.02 ERA. Cogan played out his option with Sioux Falls and elected free agency following the 2006 season.

In 2007 he pitched for the Gary SouthShore RailCats of the Northern League. Cogan, the Railcats closer, led the Northern League in saves with 25, setting a new RailCats single-season club record. The 25 saves tied for the third-highest total in the history of the Northern League, and was the most for any N.L. pitcher since 2004. He also pitched in the Northern League All-Star Game, and made a team-leading 46 appearances out of the bullpen, with a 2.77 ERA. Opposing batters went 6 for 42 (.143) against him with men on base and two outs.^[2]

In 2008 the Northern League named Cogan pitcher of the week for May 26 – June 1. He went 2–0 with a 0.63 earned run average over 14.1 innings, striking out 14 hitters to bring his season total to a league high 25.^[3]

Cogan announced his retirement on February 20, 2010.^[4]

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tony Cogan's Bio on Stanford's athletic site
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tony Cogan's Bio on RailCats' site
3. ↑ RailCats' ace Tony Cogan named Pitcher of the Week
4. ↑ RailCats pitcher Tony Cogan announces retirement

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Jews in Sports bio