Matthew Schwanke
Former Mount St. Mary’s Pitcher Cooper Adams has made his dream of pro-baseball a reality after signing a minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox, however it was not an easy road to get to where he is now.
The pitcher last played college ball for the Mount in the spring of 2023. After what many viewed as a solid season and a strong college career, people thought that Adams would be drafted in that summer’s draft.
He went to work to prepare him for the upcoming season with a group based out of North Carolina called Tread Athletics. They helped him throughout the offseason with training to attempt to get him ready for the draft.
As draft week came however, Adams said that it was really quiet. After the 20 rounds had gone bye, and the period of time where most undrafted free agents were signed has passed, Adams had found himself without a contract. Although that would have caused some people to quit, Adams had a coach in his corner to help get both his mind and body right.
“I ended up talking to my Tread coach in North Carolina. He said, ‘you know I think this is probably the best thing that could’ve happened because there are a lot of things you need to improve on and get better with.”
To start with, he worked on his mindset. Adams said that he needed to humble himself and see that he was not where he needed to be yet as a pitcher. Another aspect of Adams getting right mentally was those he had around him. “I was lucky to have a place like Tread and obviously a great support system like my family and my friends and my teammates (at the Mount).”
Adams had thought about potentially playing summer ball, however the cons of that outweighed the pros. “I got some advice from my coach (at Tread), ‘we could have you go play pro ball in independent ball. You could play and get good numbers and do whatever but we won’t be able to fix some of the issues that you have at such a deeper level.”
All of the work that Adams had put in was for a January 13th Tread pro day. A good showing meant that he could be signed, a poor one and it could be another year at the earliest for him to get another chance.
“You get basically five minutes. A five-minute bullpen where you get to show your stuff and prove you deserve a shot. I was lucky enough to throw in front of 20 scouts there and sit 95-96 (mph) which was a new personal record for me.
After the five-minute showing, it became a wait and see game to find out if and where he would sign. “At the time I didn’t have an agent. I dealt with calls myself. I ended up getting texts from the Reds, the Diamondbacks, and the Red Sox eventually.”
Although the Reds may have been the first team to offer, it was another team that caught Adams’ attention. “The Red Sox came back and said they were really interested, and they saw me play at the Mount and they liked what they saw but I didn’t have the velocity or stuff at that moment, but that I made the jump… They came back and offered me a chance to go play for them and it’s really hard to say no to the Boston Red Sox.”
Although the journey is far from over, Adams has shown again and again that he is willing to work hard for what he wants and to reach his goals.
Comments