Change Is Good for Cooper

Brian Cooper, Angel pitching prospect, couldn’t figure it out last season. He worked on things in the bullpen. He got geared up during the game. He threw the ball as hard as he could.

And, he got ripped.

Cooper was 8-10 for double-A Midland last season, and had a 7.13 earned-run average. He gave up 215 hits in 161 1/3 innings.

“That was a really tough year,” Cooper said. “Every time I went out there, I thought, ‘OK, I’m ready to go. Things would seem to work in the bullpen, but it’s a lot easier with no batter and no adrenaline. I would get in the game and couldn’t keep the ball down.”

But those frustrating days are well behind him. He is 6-1 with a 3.14 ERA as a member of a promising starting rotation at double-A Erie.

Changing was easy. He went back to his pitching coach, Howie Gershberg.

Cooper, a fourth-round pick from USC in 1995, had worked with Gershberg at Class-A Lake Elsinore in 1996, when he led the California League with 155 strikeouts. He was reaching phenom status the next season, when he was 7-3 with a 3.54 ERA for Lake Elsinore.

Getting back with Gershberg, who is also the Erie pitching coach, turned things around for Cooper.

“He knew exactly what was wrong and what I needed to do to fix it,” Cooper said. “I wasn’t staying back on the mound and that made my pitches stay up. “

Cooper developed a changeup. It has helped keep batters from sitting on his fastball. During spring training, Cooper also started throwing a curveball to go with his slider.

The two new pitches have made a difference. “Brian is a lot more sure of himself,” Gershberg said. “Mentally, he has straightened himself out.”