One-Eyed Dodgers Prospect Gets Chance to Make Team

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A life-changing injury hasn’t stopped Patrick Copen from pursuing his MLB dreams.

A life-changing injury isn’t stopping Patrick Copen from pursuing his MLB dreams. Less than two years after losing sight in his right eye, the Los Angeles Dodgers prospect has received an invitation to MLB Spring Training. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported Copen would be with the team in Glendale, Arizona.

Ardaya also had an excellent profile of Copen’s return to action last season. The right-hander was struck in the face with a comebacker during a start with High-A Great Lakes on August 20, 2024. Emergency surgery repaired Copen’s shattered orbital bone, but doctors couldn’t save his vision due to the severity of his detached retina.

Copen began his rehab the very next day. He texted Great Lakes pitching coach David Anderson on August 21 with a video of himself going through his normal post-start routine. “I was never OK with the fact of losing vision, but I was able to accept it, knowing that I was going to be able to play again,” Copen told Ardaya. “As long as I can see home plate, and my arm feels good, then I’m perfectly OK with whatever the outstanding circumstances are.”

Los Angeles Dodgers Prospect Rises Up Ranks Without Right Eye

The lack of full vision hasn’t slowed Copen’s ascent through the Dodgers’ minor league system. He was back on the mound to begin the 2025 campaign, starting the first game of the season for Great Lakes. Copen delivered 3.2 no-hit innings with nine strikeouts. He would go on to post a 2.25 ERA across 10 starts with the Loons. Copen pushed his strikeout rate to a career-best 38.5% across 48 innings.

The strong return at High-A earned Copen a promotion to Double-A. He wasn’t as dominant with Tulsa (4.52 ERA), but still managed a strikeout per inning over 17 starts. Copen totaled a career-high 117.2 innings between the two levels.

“It wasn’t a deterrent for him to get back,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes told Ardaya. “To ultimately keep going for the goal to be a big-league pitcher, it’s pretty inspiring.”

Copen Has Big Frame, Enticing Arsenal

Los Angeles drafted Copen in the seventh round of the 2023 draft out of Marshall University. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound righty struggled with control at times as a collegiate pitcher, including 6.7 walks per 9 innings in his final season, but he’s worked hard to get his command in check.

“He has three legit fastballs,” Gomes told Ardaya. “And he’s taking steps forward. Even as he’s moved up levels, the walk rates have been maintained … his overall pitch package is really impressive.”

Copen was not among MLB.com’s top 30 Dodgers prospects in his first two professional seasons, but he made the list in 2025. He slotted in at No. 17 on the most recent edition of the leaderboard. FanGraphs has Copen at 29th heading into this season. He’ll challenge for a roster spot this spring. No matter the result, his coaches are confident in his mindset.

“His approach to his career is whatever happens to him, whether he’s a big leaguer for 15 years, whether he’s a big leaguer for one day, like he’s going to make sure that he can say at the end of the day he did everything he could and he has zero regrets about how he goes about things,” Anderson told Ardaya.