Five years after taking the mound in the cream and crimson at Bart Kaufman Field, former Indiana baseball pitcher Tanner Gordon made his Major League Baseball debut Sunday with the Colorado Rockies.
Gordon tossed 6.1 innings against the Kansas City Royals, allowing five runs on eight hits while striking out four hitters in a 10-1 loss at Coors Field in Denver. He threw 78 pitches, 62 of which were strikes.
The 6-foot-5, 215-pound right-hander was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the sixth round of the 2019 MLB Draft and spent the following four years in Atlanta’s minor league system. Last July, the Braves traded Gordon, then at Double-A, to the Rockies in exchange for big league reliever Pierce Johnson.
While at Indiana, Gordon went 6-6 with a 3.81 earned run average as the Hoosiers’ Saturday starter in 2019. He made 16 starts and struck out 90 batters across 87.1 innings.
Gordon became the 35th former Hoosier to play in the MLB and the third currently on a roster, joining Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Tim Herrin.
The 26-year-old Gordon had over 30 family members and friends in attendance for his debut, creating a day the Champaign, Illinois, native won’t soon forget.
“Taking the mound, walking off the mound after the outing and looking around, and then seeing my family and friends on the field after the game,” Gordon said after the game. “I had to hold back some tears, but it was fun.”
