Matt Koch

Koch attended Washington High School in Cherokee, Iowa, and played for the school's baseball team. The Boston Red Sox selected Koch in the 37th round of the 2009 MLB draft. He did not sign and attended the University of Louisville, where he played college baseball for the Louisville Cardinals.[1]

In 2011, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Chatham A's of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[2]

Koch was drafted by the New York Mets in the third round of the 2012 MLB draft.[3]

On August 30, 2015 the Mets traded Koch and Miller Diaz to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Addison Reed.[4] The Diamondbacks added him to their 40-man roster after the season.[5]

Koch was promoted to the Major Leagues for September call ups in 2016.[6] In 7 games for the D'Backs, he was 1–1 with 1 save. The following season he pitched the whole season at Reno (AAA).

In 2018, he began the season in AAA but after an injury to the Diamondbacks rotation, Koch was called up. In his first 6 starts, he was 2–1 with an ERA under 3 but struggled afterwards, leading to his demotion to AAA with the return of Shelby Miller. On June 20, he was demoted to AAA for a second time.[7] On the season, Koch finished with a 5–5 record with an ERA of 4.15 in 19 games, 14 starts.

On April 28, 2019, Koch was designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks. He elected free agency on November 7, 2019.

On December 13, 2019, Koch signed a one year deal with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). On January 31, 2020, he held press conference with Gabriel Ynoa and Alcides Escobar.[8]

On August 22, 2020, Koch made his NPB debut.[9] On December 2, 2020, he become free agent.[10]