As Major League Baseball rosters expanded for the season’s final month, Stony Brook alum and Houston Astros prospect Nick Tropeano received the call of a lifetime: a major league promotion.
Tropeano was called up to join the Astros’ major league roster on Sept. 2 for the remainder of the 2014 season. The promotion came after a phenomenal campaign for AAA Oklahoma in which he went 9-5 with a 3.03 ERA.
A West Islip native, Tropeano was taken by Houston in the fifth round of the 2011 MLB draft after a decorated collegiate career. While at Stony Brook, he became the first and only player in America East history to win conference pitcher of the year twice.
In the year leading up to his draft selection, Tropeano put together one of the most dominant statistical campaigns ever by a Seawolves pitcher. That season, he went 12-1 with a 1.84 ERA while amassing 119 strikeouts in 93 innings. The right-hander also left a sizeable mark on school record books, as he ranks second all-time in wins, fourth in strikeouts and ERA, and sixth in innings pitched.
Tropeano becomes the third former Seawolf to reach the major leagues, joining Tigers pitcher Joe Nathan and Marlins pitcher Tom Koehler.
Houston manager Jeff Lunhow has said that he plans to start Tropeano at some point this month, even if it means beginning his career in the bullpen.
Coming into 2014, mlb.com ranked Tropeano as the 13th best prospect in the Astros’ farm system, a system that many talent evaluators consider to be the best in baseball. Given that he is in the company of some of the best young baseball players in the world, it is quite possible that he could become an integral part of the Astros’ rebuilding process.
