Who Is Vanessa Hudgens' Fiancé? All About MLB Player Cole Tucker

The ‘High School Musical’ star and the baseball pro got engaged in 2022

Vanessa Hudgens’ fiance, Cole Tucker, knows a thing or two about diamonds.

Not only is he a professional baseball player, but he also proposed High school musical 2022 Emerald Flash alum.

“I was extremely surprised,” Hudgens later told PEOPLE in March 2023 of the proposal. “We definitely talked about it, but I didn’t expect it to happen the way it did and when it did. It definitely caught me off guard and I cried.”

The couple were first romantically linked in November 2020 when they were spotted embracing during a dinner date at Canyon Country Store in Los Angeles.

Vanessa Hudgens and Cole Tucker Relationship Timeline

“After our first weekend together, I called my sister [Stella]and I said, ‘I think I just found my future husband,'” she said during a guest appearance on Hoda & Jenna in April 2023.

Hudgens and Tucker made their relationship official on Instagram on Valentine’s Day 2021, and later that year they made their red carpet debut at Tick, Tick… Boom! premiere.

“He’s just perfect for me,” she said Party tonight in April 2021. “I am [happy]. I really am. I think it’s also really important to stay grateful for everything you have in life. That’s been a priority for me and I feel like it makes the magic happen even more.”

So who is Vanessa Hudgens’ fiance? Here’s everything you need to know about Cole Tucker and his relationship with the former Disney star.

He’s from Arizona

Cole Tucker as a kid in a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform.

Cole Tucker’s Instagram

Tucker was born and raised in Phoenix. He attended Mountain Pointe High School where he played on the baseball team and represented Team USA at the 18U Baseball World Championships as a senior.

“He just had that ‘it’ factor with that confidence, self-belief in who he was. No one wanted to deny him a chance. He would find a way to get it done,” his former high school coach Brandon Buck told AZ Central.

He met Hudgens through Zoom

Cole Tucker and Vanessa Hudgens in 2022.

Cole Tucker’s Instagram

Hudgens and Tucker first met in a Zoom meditation group during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I go into Zoom and I’m like, ‘Who is that?’ ” she said during a guest appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show.

After their first meeting, Hudgens said she was the one who reached out to the professional athlete.

“I just slid into his DMs and said, ‘Hey, nice to meet you.’ So I think there’s no shame in taking the first step,” she said and added, “Why wait for someone else to give you what you want?”

He and Hudgens announced their engagement in 2023

Vanessa Hudgens shows off her engagement ring from Cole Tucker in 2022.

Vanessa Hudgens Instagram

About two years after the couple started dating, Tucker popped the question to Hudgens in Paris. The actress announced the news on Instagram in February 2023.

“YES. We couldn’t be happier,” she captioned the photos of the two hugging and taking a closer look at the engagement ring.

“I love it. It bothers me all the time,” she told PEOPLE in March 2023.

She also revealed that she was knee deep in wedding planning and already overwhelmed. “It’s a big scary thing — so much goes into it,” Hudgens said. “Like Gwen Stefani said, this s— is bananas.”

He is an MLB player

Cole Tucker plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Joe Sargent/Getty

Tucker was drafted in the first round of Major League Baseball in 2014. He was the 24th pick and joined the roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates as a player from 2014 to 2022. After his tenure with the Pirates, he quickly joined the parent team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, in the same year.

“I feel like I experienced so many emotions with the Pirates,” Tucker told AZ Central in June 2022. “I was a 17-year-old high school senior and they drafted me, and I made it to the big leagues with them, and I had success with them . So many great people out there, I’m really humbled by it all, I appreciate it all.”

As for his next move, he told the outlet that he’s “excited to make the most of this opportunity and excited to be close to home.”

Tucker did not end up playing in the major leagues for the Diamondbacks in part due to injuries, and signed a minor league deal with the Colorado Rockies at the end of 2022. In October 2023, he chose to become a free agent.

Hudgens is his biggest cheerleader

Vanessa Hudgens poses with Cole Tucker at a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game. cole tucker/ instagram

The Dog days the actress is known for supporting her fiancé at his games, including the beginning of their relationship when he played for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In August 2023, Hudgens was spotted in the stands at Tucker’s first game with the Colorado Rockies and cheered him on when he hit a double during his first at-bat.

“I’ve been to a lot of games, a lot more than I have in my entire life in one year,” Hudgens said Party tonight in November 2021 “I love going and supporting him and cheering him on.”

His brother is also a baseball player

Cole Tucker with his parents, Erin and Jackie Tucker, and his siblings, Carson and Quinn.

Cole Tucker’s Instagram

Tucker isn’t the only sibling in his household to play professional baseball: his younger brother, Carson Tucker, was drafted by the Cleveland Guardians in 2020. He was the 23rd pick as a shortstop — an event Tucker predicted years before.

“Late night sex with @DookieTucker29 . The kid never stops working. The little man is going to go round one,” he chirped 2013 with a photo of Carson in the batting cage.

Before his brother’s recruitment, Tucker talked about how he was passing on his professional experience.

“Carson Tucker is my favorite player, I root for him and root for him and follow his every move,” he told MLB.com in June 2020. “I’m just trying to be a part of the process as much as I can and put my big brother hat on and also his baseball hat.”

Carson now plays for the Lynchburg Hillcats, the Single-A affiliate of the Guardians.

Athletics run deep in their family as their mom, Erin Tucker, ran track and played volleyball at the University of Arizona, while their dad, Jackie Tucker, played minor league baseball, according to The Athletic.

He was High school musical fan long before he met Hudgens

Cole Tucker and Vanessa Hudgens on Netflix’s ‘Tick, Tick…BOOM!’ Premiere in New York in November 2021.

Monica Schipper/Getty

Tucker has been a Wildcats fan for over a decade, as evidenced by a tweet from 2012. The teenager at the time wrote: “Looking for: Girl to watch High school musical with me and scratch my back.”

He even grew his hair to resemble Corbin Bleu’s character, Chad Danforth, who was a baseball player in the musical series.

“When I was in the fourth grade, I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to grow my hair out. I’m going to look like Corbin Bleu and it’s going to be the best thing ever,’ he told The Athletic in March 2020. “I did it and I’m still doing it. I sound like a nerd right now, but it really happened. It kind of became my thing .”

He helped launch You Can! Foundation

Vanessa Hudgens and Cole Tucker at the Thomas Ashbourne Margalicious Margarita Dinner in October 2022.

Araya Doheny/Getty

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tucker joined his friends and fellow MLB players Cody Bellinger and Jamie Westbrook to create You Can! Foundation, a program designed to raise money and raise awareness about the mental health and wellbeing of disadvantaged youth.

“[We] we were just talking and thinking, ‘Hey, we have this platform and we have these ideas about what would be great to help in our backyard and around the country with things we care about,'” Tucker told MLB.com in September 2021.

“I also think it’s something that applies to everyone, no matter who you are or what you do,” he added.

His hobbies include playing music and golf

Trevor Plouffe and Cole Tucker 2021.

Cole Tucker’s Instagram

In his free time, Tucker plays drums and guitar, and often posts photos of his music sessions on Instagram.

Although Hudgens doesn’t usually join his sessions, the two have performed together. The duo took the stage for a karaoke night while hanging out with friends, singing Jennifer Lopez and Ja Rule’s 2001 hit, “I’m Real.”

Tucker also enjoys practicing his swing on the golf course and shares footage of his outings online.

Hudgens plans to take his last name when they marry

During the performance at Today with Hoda and JennaHudgens revealed that she plans to become “Mrs. T” after she and Tucker tie the knot.

“I’ll probably take it,” she said, referring to her fiancé’s last name. “Like, professionally it’s obviously going to stay the same.”

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Source: HIS Education