John Koronka

John Vincent Koronka is a professional baseball player from the USA who plays as a pitcher. The left hander began his playing career at the South Lake High School before moving directly into the MLB Amateur Draft in 1998. Selected at 350th overall, Koronka was designated to the Rookie League, playing for the Billings Mustangs. He spent the whole of 1998 and 1999 in the Rookie League, playing for the Mustangs and the Gulf Coast League Reds, during the tenure.

2000 and 2001 was spent in the A-Division with the Clinton Lumberkings and the Dayton Dragons respectively. During his time at Clinton, Koronka pitched 104 innings for 74 strikeouts but ended the season with a 4-13 record. In 2001, after his time with the Dragons, Koronka moved up rapidly to the Advanced A-Division before making his mark and moving on to the AA-Division.

He began 2002 in the Advanced A-Division before making a move, again, to the AA-League. This time, playing in the AA-League with the Chattanooga Lookouts, Koronka had a better showing and 69 strikeouts in 95.2 innings was good enough to keep him up at the beginning of 2003.

After beginning for the Lookouts, Koronka moved to the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx for a single game towards the end of the season. This move came after he was traded out to the Chicago Cubs. Playing the entire 2004 season with the Iowa Cubs, Koronka moved up to the MLB roster midway through the 2005 season.

Koronka’s MLB experience with the Cubs wasn’t pretty. Giving away 19 hits and 13 runs in 15.2 innings wasn’t what the starting man would have expected however, his 1-2 record in 4 games meant that he would be on his way down again.

Sure enough, the Cubs decided to trade him out to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Freddie Bynum. Three games with the Oklahoma RedHawks, in the AAA-League, set Koronka up for the MLB with the Rangers. Koronka started the 23 games he played that year, ending with a 7-7 record and a 5.69 ERA. After beginning 2007 with two different AAA-League teams, Koronka came back to the MLB roster for just 2 games.

Koronka was not considered good enough for the MLB and after the expiry of his contract, opted for free agency instead of a minor league contract, which is what the Rangers were offering him. The Colorado Rockies decided to pick Koronka up, giving him an opportunity to get back into the majors however, after a 13-game stint with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, they decided to release him to allow Koronka to move to Japan and play for the Orix Buffaloes.

In 2009, Koronka returned to the USA and signed with the Florida Marlins. Assigned to the New Orleans Zephyrs, in the AAA-League, Koronka played 30 games before being called up for a couple of outings in the MLB roster of the Marlins. At the end of the season, Koronka was granted free agency and he signed up with the Los Angeles Dodgers at the beginning of 2010.