Nicholas Paul Tropeano is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Major League Baseball.
Education
Prior to playing professionally, he attended Stony Brook University, where he played college baseball. Tropeano attended West Islip High School in West Islip, New York, where he played baseball as a pitcher and American football as a quarterback.
Career
He previously played for the Houston Astros. He enrolled at Stony Brook University, where he played college baseball for the Stony Brook Seawolves baseball team in the America East Conference. After his freshman season, Tropeano pitched for the Riverhead Tomcats in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League, a collegiate summer baseball league, and was named its Most Valuable Player.
He pitched in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Cotuit Kettleers between his sophomore and junior seasons at Stony Brook.
The Houston Astros drafted Tropeano in the fifth round of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft. After signing with the Astros, he pitched that season with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League.
In 2012, he pitched for the Lexington Legends of the Class A South Atlantic League (SAL), where he was twice named the SAL pitcher of the week, and the Lancaster JetHawks of the Class A-Advanced California League. He began the 2013 season with the Corpus Christi Hooks of the Class Associate of Arts Texas League.
On August 1, Tropeano struck out Midland Rockhounds infielder Vinnie Catricala with one pitch.
Tropeano opened the 2014 season with the Oklahoma City RedHawks of the Class American Automobile Association Pacific Coast League (PCL). Tropeano pitched to a 2.09 European Research Area by mid-June, but missed a month after he experienced forearm soreness in late June. After pitching to a 9-5 record with a 3.03 European Research Area and 120 strikeouts in 124 2⁄3 innings, the Astros promoted Tropeano to the major leagues on September 1.
His European Research Area led the PCL. On November 5, 2014, the Astros traded Tropeano and Carlos Perez to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for Hank Conger.