Todd Matthew Van Poppel (born December 9, 1971) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

(, –),

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

(1996), Texas Rangers (, –),

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

(1998),

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

(–), and

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

(2003–). He retired during

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

with the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

in .

Amateur career

Van Poppel was 11–3 with a 0.97

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) and 170

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s as a senior at Martin High School in

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...

. He was drafted in the first round, 14th overall, by the Athletics directly out of high school in the

1990 Major League Baseball Draft The 1990 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft was held in June 1990. The draft placed amateur baseball players onto major league teams. 1,487 players were distributed to 26 teams. The draft consisted of first round selections, supplemental first ...

. The

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

had seriously considered using the first overall selection on Van Poppel. However, when Van Poppel explicitly told the Braves he would not sign with them, the team opted instead to take future Hall of Fame player

Chipper Jones Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones Jr. (born April 24, 1972) is an American former professional baseball third baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves from 1993 to 2012. The Braves chose Jones with the first overall p ...

Professional career

Van Poppel was the first of four

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

s selected by the A's in the first 36 picks of the 1990 draft, referred to at the time as "The Four Aces". The other three draftees were Don Peters, Dave Zancanaro and

Kirk Dressendorfer Kirk Richard Dressendorfer (born April 8, 1969) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1991. Dressendorfer attended and played college baseball at The Universit ...

. All four struggled with injuries after being drafted, and only Van Poppel and Dressendorfer ever reached the major leagues.Melissa Lockard. Blast from the Past: Q&A with Kirk Dressendorfer, December 16, 2004.
Because Van Poppel was signed to a major league contract rather than the standard minor league contract, the A's only had a limited number of minor league options they could use on him. By all accounts, his lack of seasoning in the minors cost both the A's and Van Poppel. He pitched just 37.2 innings in Single-A in 1990, spent 1991 at Double-A

Huntsville Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in th ...

, and was hurt for much of 1992 at Triple-A Tacoma before splitting time between Oakland and Tacoma in 1993. In all, he made only 32 minor league starts.Todd Van Poppel, Cincinnati.com, 2004.
/ref>Kevin T. Czerwinski. Mets sign veteran Van Poppel, Press Release, 2005.
/ref> Armed with a blazing

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thro ...

that had little movement, Van Poppel struggled with the A's. His best season in Oakland was probably 1995, when he went 4–8 with a 4.88 ERA, splitting time as a starter and a

reliever In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather ...

. He also notched 122 strikeouts (and 56 walks) in 138.1 innings that year. In 1996, his numbers dropped sharply, and he was released by the A's mid-season. After unremarkable stops in Detroit, Texas and Pittsburgh, Van Poppel did have two successful years (2000 and 2001) as a middle reliever with the Cubs, before his effectiveness declined. Van Poppel's career record was 40–52. He never won more than seven games in a season.

Retirement

Shortly after his retirement from baseball in 2005, Van Poppel announced he was investing in the

Denton Outlaws The Denton Outlaws were a collegiate summer baseball team based in Denton, Texas, from 2005 to 2007. They played their home games at Falcon Field in Corinth, Texas. The team was quite competitive during their short time in the Texas Collegiate Lea ...

, a

Texas Collegiate League The Texas Collegiate League (TCL) is a collegiate summer baseball league made up of teams from the states of Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. The league's headquarters are in Coppell, Texas. Uri Geva, owner of the Brazos Valley Bombers, is the le ...

team. The Outlaws went on to win the league championship that year.Brett Vito. Baseball: Van Poppel to invest in Outlaws, GoMeanGreen.com, May 17, 2005.
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Poppel, Todd 1971 births Living people Baseball players from Chicago Major League Baseball pitchers Chicago Cubs players Cincinnati Reds players Detroit Tigers players Oakland Athletics players Pittsburgh Pirates players Texas Rangers players Sportspeople from Arlington, Texas Southern Oregon A's players Madison Muskies players Huntsville Stars players Tacoma Tigers players Omaha Royals players Charlotte Rangers players Tulsa Drillers players Iowa Cubs players Oklahoma RedHawks players Nashville Sounds players Frisco RoughRiders players Louisville Bats players People from Hinsdale, Illinois Martin High School (Arlington, Texas) alumni