Todd Van Poppel

Lore & Background

Van Poppel was drafted in the first round, 14th overall, by the Athletics directly out of high school in the 1990 Major League Baseball draft. He was the first of four starting pitchers selected by the A's in the first 36 picks of the 1990 draft, referred to as 'The Four Aces.' He pitched just 37.2 innings in Single-A in 1990, spent 1991 at Double-A Huntsville, and was hurt for much of 1992 at Triple-A Tacoma before splitting time between Oakland and Tacoma in 1993. His best season in Oakland was probably 1995, when he went 4–8 with a 4.88 ERA. He had two successful years (2000 and 2001) as a middle reliever with the Cubs.

In Their Own Story

The evening sun hung low over the Rockies' outfield wall, painting the artificial turf in shades of amber and rust. The crowd had thinned to a few hundred die-hards, the ones who never left their seats until the final out. In the dugout, still in his gray road uniform with the thin red pinstripe, Todd Van Poppel sat with a towel draped over his shoulders, watching the last warm-up pitcher throw soft tosses into the netting. A young farmhand beside him asked if he remembered a particular game from the season before. Van Poppel nodded slowly, a half-smile forming. "You don't remember the score," he said. "You remember the wind coming off the mountains and the way the ball just… floats a little longer out there." The kid laughed. The stadium lights flickered on, row by row, and the empty seats around them seemed to lean in, listening.

Reader's Guide

Van Poppel's career record was 40–52. He never won more than seven games in a season. He was released by the A's mid-season in 1996. After unremarkable stops in Detroit, Texas and Pittsburgh, his effectiveness declined after 2001.

Did You Know?

• Van Poppel was 11–3 with a 0.97 ERA and 170 strikeouts as a senior at Martin High School in Arlington, Texas.
• The Atlanta Braves considered using the first overall pick on Van Poppel but chose Chipper Jones instead when Van Poppel said he would not sign with them.
• Van Poppel's son, Riley Van Poppel, is a defensive lineman for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football team.
• Shortly after his retirement in 2005, Van Poppel invested in the Denton Outlaws, a Texas Collegiate League team that won the league championship that year.