Cooper was one of many first base prospects taken in the first round of the draft after other highly regarded college hitters such as Yonder Alonso, Brett Wallace, and Justin Smoak.

[7][8] Cooper made his major league debut on April 29, 2011, against the New York Yankees, playing the DH position and batting 7th in the line-up.

[10] On May 10, Cooper hit his first career home run, a solo shot off of Boston Red Sox reliever Daniel Bard, and followed that up with a game winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning.

[11] Cooper was demoted back to Triple-A on May 15, and after almost 4 months with Las Vegas, he was included in the Blue Jays' September call-ups and re-debuted on September 8. Cooper did not make the Blue Jays roster out of spring training and began the 2012 season at Las Vegas.

It included an opt out clause for him to leave the organization if he had not made the major league club by late August.

[19] He played seven games with the Columbus Clippers before being granted free agency on August 31. Cooper signed a new major league deal with the Indians on December 9, 2013.