The Rangers selected Zach in the 23rd round of the 2004 amateur draft after he pitched one year at Sacramento(California) City College. He was almost exclusively a starting pitcher for the first three seasons of his professional career before the Rangers converted him to be a reliever at the start of the 2009 season. The Rangers designated him for assignment on July 14th of this season and then worked out the trade with the O's for Green & green. He spent about six weeks pitching for the Tides, appearing in 14 games before he was recalled to the O's on Wednesday, August 31.
The Orioles played the Blue Jays at home that night and I happened to be at that game. It was a miserable 13-0 Blue Jays win, and the only good part about the game was that I got to see Zach make his MLB & Orioles debut. That's him in the picture, throwing his first or second big league pitch.
To date, Zach has pitched 4.2 innings over six games for the O's and has yet to allow a run. He has given up four hits, walked two and struck out six; I like what I've seen of him so far. Keep up the good work Zach!
As far as Zach's autograph goes, it doesn't consist of much more than a Z___ P_____ but I think it's interesting that he seems to have put a bit more effort on the actual signature than the auto-pen version on the card. That's something I guess...
3 comments:
I like the job he's done on the mound but he really is a box of nerves on the mound. I think the uniform manager puts itching powder in his jersey
I like his signature. It's a little different than most Zach's. He uses a non-cursive Z and you can tell he is actually signing his full name and not just Zach.
Ryan- I agree, Phillips does get kind of twitchy out there.
Zach- I traded for this autograph but if I get the chance, you know I am going to ask him to personalize one "To Zach" for you.
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