Tony Cogan

Anthony Michael "Tony" Cogan (born December 21, 1976, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American baseball pitcher.

Cogan, who is 6' 2", bats and throws left-handed.

Baseball career

High school & college

Cogan 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. [http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/stan-m-basebl-cogan.html]

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. [http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/stan-m-basebl-cogan.html] He was selected as Stanford’s Most Inspirational Player in 1999. [http://www.railcatsbaseball.com/Roster/Player.aspx?id=245]

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 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 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 in the process. 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. Also pitched in the Northern League All-Star Game in July. Made a team-leading 46 appearances out of the bullpen, going 1-6 with a 2.77 ERA…Earned four saves. Enjoyed high comfort level at the Steel Yard, limiting opposing batters to a combined batting average of .193 while posting an ERA of 1.61. Saw 41.1 of his 48.2 innings in either the ninth inning or extra innings of games. Cogan seems at his best in the tightest spots, Opposing batters went a combined 6 for 42 (.143) against him with men on base and two outs. Got off to an outstanding start, posting six saves and a win in May (RailCats played only 14 games in the month) and allowed runs in only two of his first 15 outings…Notched 11 saves in August, allowing just three runs in 15 games (14 innings) for the month. [http://www.railcatsbaseball.com/Roster/Player.aspx?id=245]

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/coganto01.shtml Baseball Reference]
* [http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/C/Tony-Cogan.shtml Baseball Cube]
* [http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1002395&position=P Fangraphs]
* [http://www.jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=baseball&ID=164 Jews in Sports bio]