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Titans Coach’s Son Set for MLB Debut

Tennessee Titans defensive line coach Tracy Rocker will see his son, Kumar, debut for the Texas Rangers.

Jeremy Brener

Jun 30, 2021; Omaha, Nebraska, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores pitcher Kumar Rocker (80) pitches in the fourth inning against the Mississippi St. Bulldogs at TD Ameritrade Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images
Jun 30, 2021; Omaha, Nebraska, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores pitcher Kumar Rocker (80) pitches in the fourth inning against the Mississippi St. Bulldogs at TD Ameritrade Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images / Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images
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Tracy Rocker has an exciting job as the Tennessee Titans defensive line coach, but he also has a job that comes before that.

Rocker is a father to a 25-year-old son named Kumar, who also happens to be a highly-touted pitcher for the Texas Rangers. Kumar is making his MLB debut tonight against the Seattle Mariners, and his dad will fly up to attend the game, according to team reporter Jim Wyatt.

It's an exciting moment for Tracy, who has seen Kumar rise as a top prospect in college at Vanderbilt, one of the top colleges in the nation for baseball that's just down the road from the Titans in Nashville.

Kumar was taken with the No. 10 overall pick by the New York Mets in the 2021 MLB Draft, but the team chose not to go forward with signing him after they expressed concerns over his injured shoulder.

Kumar had surgery on his shoulder and re-entered the 2022 draft, where he was chosen with the No. 3 overall pick by the Rangers. Over the past two years, Kumar has gone through the Rangers' minor league system and now finds himself in the majors as Texas winds down for the season.

Kumar now gets to follow in the footsteps of his father as a professional athlete. Tracy was a third-round pick in the 1989 NFL Draft by Washington, but he played in just two seasons before going into coaching.

Tracy has spent over three decades coaching defensive lines, most of which has come at the collegiate level. He made the jump from college to the pros in 2011 when Mike Munchak hired him to be on the Titans staff. He spent three seasons in Tennessee before returning to college at Georgia.

He returned to the NFL in 2021 with the Philadelphia Eagles, where he spent the past three seasons before coming back to Tennessee to complete some unfinished business.

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Jeremy Brener

JEREMY BRENER

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