Kumar Rocker MLB debut for Rangers will include his dad, Tracy Rocker, a Tennessee Titans assistant
The Nashville connections will extend past Vanderbilt baseball when pitcher Kumar Rocker makes his MLB debut for the Texas Rangers on Thursday night.
Tennessee Titans defensive line coach Tracy Rocker, Kumar's dad, will be in attendance for Kumar's Major League debut in Seattle Thursday night. The plan is for Rocker to fly back to Nashville after Thursday's game, which begins at 8:40 p.m. CT, and be back in time for Titans practice on Friday afternoon as the team prepares for its home opener at Nissan Stadium against the New York Jets on Sunday (noon, CBS).
The Titans (0-1) benefitted greatly from the performance of Rocker's unit in Week 1. Defensive linemen T'Vondre Sweat, Keondre Coburn and Jeffery Simmons were among the team's standout players.
Kumar Rocker, 24, pitched at Vanderbilt from 2019-21. He led the Commodores to a College World Series championship in 2019, winning the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award in the process. He was drafted in the first round of the 2021 MLB Draft by the New York Mets but did not sign, then was drafted again in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft by the Rangers. He's allowed just two runs with 18 strikeouts in 10 innings pitched in Triple-A this season.
"I'm so happy for the Rocker family," Titans defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson said Thursday. "I've been around the Rocker family for many years. I know his son very well and I understand the relationship he has with his son. So for him as a coach, he's going to do this work, his due diligence. The players understand he's going to get on that plane and forget being a coach. Now he's one of the happiest parents in the world."
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Kumar Rocker: Dad Tracy Rocker, a Titans assistant, to see MLB debut
