By By AB Wire
Another Indian American pitcher, Rohan Handa, a junior from Yale, drafted by San Francisco Giants.
New York Mets drafted Indian American Kumar Rocker as the 10th overall pick in the first round of the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft on Sunday.
The 21-year-old right-hander pitcher from Vanderbilt was one of the most sought-after players in this year’s draft after several stellar years in Nashville. With a fastball in high 90s and a slider in the mid-80s, Rocker was expected to go as high as Number 1.
Kumar is the son of Tracy Rocker, a former Washington Redskins defensive tackle and current defensive line coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Indian American mother Lalitha.
The New York Post reported Monday that the Mets will pay Kumar Rocker $6 million in signing bonus. The recommended signing bonus for the 10th overall pick is $4.74 million. That the Mets are going above and beyond it shows how highly the team rates the pitcher.
In 2019, as a freshman, Rocker was selected as the Most Outstanding Player of the College World Series. His best performance of the year was a no-hitter against Vanderbilt’s regional rivals Duke, during which he threw 19 strikeouts.
Following a 2021 season cut short by Covid-19, the righty had another great season this year, going 14-4 for Vanderbilt with a 2.73 ERA.
The 6-foot-4, 255 lbs. Rocker is considered a strikeout machine. At Vanderbilt, he struck out 321 batters in 236 2/3 innings. According to MLB.com, his career K/9 of 12.2 would make him an all-time League leader by more than a full strikeout.
Rocker’s parents met in the Washington, DC, area, when his father was playing for the Redskins and mother was a student at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.
Rocker was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on Nov. 22, 1999. He attended North Oconee High School in Bogart, Georgia.
These past two days have been truly historic for the Indian American community. On Sunday, Samir Banerjee, a 17-year-old Indian American boy from New Jersey had won Wimbledon junior championship.
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