Reid Cornelius: Former Mid 90's Mets Pitcher Turned Coach (1995)

Jonathan Reid Cornelius was born on June 2, 1970, in Thomasville, Alabama. The six-foot right-handed pitcher was a star in his home state at a young age. By the time he was 18 years old he was listed as Baseball America’s Top Prospect in the state of Alabama. He helped his team win the junior cup & got chosen in the 11th round of the 1988 draft by the Montreal Expos.

Cornelius was a ten-game winner twice in the minor leagues getting called up by the Expos in late April of 1995. He was used in May as a reliever posting an 8.00 ERA in eight games pitched. On June 8th, 1995, Cornelius was traded to the New York Mets for David Segui.

Mets Career: The Mets first used Cornelius as a starter, debuting on August 3rd, in Cincinnati where he took a 3-2 loss. In his next start although he gave up four runs, he beat the Phillies in a 12-10 win. But he would give up at least four runs in his next five starts as well, taking five straight losses going 1-6 into mid-September.

On September 17th, he earned a win, against the Phillies breaking his losing streak. After a loss in Florida, he pitched six innings, allowing just two runs in a 9-2 Mets win on September 27th, which turned out to be his last Mets game.

Reid finished the year 3-7 with a 5.15 ERA posting 35 strike outs& 25 walks in 57 innings pitched in ten games. At the end of Spring Training in 1996 he was traded along with Ryan Thompson to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Mark Clark. 

He spent 1996 with the Indians organization, then was signed by the Florida Marlins. In 1997 at the AA & AAA levels combined, he was a 17-game winner posting a 4.62 ERA. He remained in the minors with the Marlins for four years.

In 1999 he got a September call up with the Florida Marlins, appearing in five games going 1-0. His best outing came on a night in September 1999, when the Miami area was under a hurricane warning. Cornelius threw six shutout innings beating the Expos 4-0 earning his only win of the year.

In 2000 he went 4-10 with a 4.82 ERA, for the Marlins. But then he suffered a torn labrum & then arthritis set in, his career was over at age thirty. 

In his brief three-year career, he was 8-17 with a 4.91 ERA, with 101 strike outs in 211 innings pitched in 45 games.

Retirement: After his playing days he became a long-time minor league & major league coach. From 2010-2016 he was a bullpen coach with the Florida Marlins. 

In 2019 he is pitching coach for the A ball Jupiter Hammerheads. In 2022 he became the Colorado Rockies bull pen coach.