A photo of Zack Greinke.
Donald Zackary "Zack" Greinke (born October 21, 1983) is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Kansas City Royals. Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award in 2009.[1]
High school & minor league[]
Greinke was born in Orlando, Florida. After being named the Gatorade National Player of the Year in 2002, he was selected out of Apopka High School (and turning down a scholarship to Clemson) in the first round of the 2002 draft.
In 2003, he played for the Wilmington Blue Rocks and Wichita Wranglers, where he was named the Royals Minor League Pitcher of the Year, Carolina League Pitcher of the Year, and The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year, with a 15–4 record and 1.93 ERA.[2]
Major league career[]
Greinke made his major league debut on May 22, 2004 against the Oakland Athletics.
Greinke's first major league hit was a home run off Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Russ Ortiz in a 12–11 loss on June 10, 2005.
Greinke left spring training for personal reasons in late February 2006.[3] It was later revealed that he was suffering from social anxiety disorder and depression.[4] He reported back to the Royals' spring training facility in Surprise, Arizona, on April 17, where he underwent ongoing pitching sessions. He was placed on the 60-day disabled list due to psychological issues and took time away from baseball entirely until returning on a rehab assignment with Wichita.
In 2007, he returned to the Royals rotation at the start of the season, but was sent to the bullpen in early May.
Greinke's 2008 saw him return to the rotation and put up a good year. His 3.47 ERA was the best by a full-time Royals starter in 11 years.[5]
On January 26, 2009, Greinke agreed to a four-year contract with the Royals worth $38 million.[5]
Greinke started off 2009 by not allowing a run in his first 24 innings. Greinke's 2008 ended with 14 scoreless innings, which meant that for 38 innings in a row, he hadn't given up a run. Greinke was named American League Pitcher of the Month for April for all tops in the Majors his 5 wins, 0.50 ERA and 44 strikeouts.[6]
On August 25, Greinke struck out 15 batters, breaking Mark Gubicza's record for strikeouts in a single game for the Royals.[7] On August 30, Greinke had a one-hit complete game against the Seattle Mariners.
His record for the 2009 season was 16-8, and he posted an ERA of 2.16, the lowest in MLB. On October 21st, Greinke was named American League Pitcher of the Year by The Sporting News[8]. On October 28, Greinke was awarded the MLBPA Players Choice AL Pitcher of the Year, which was announced during Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio.
On November 17, 2009, Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award.[1] Greinke credited some of his performance to his use of "modern pitching metrics" — statistics on team defense and defense independent pitching statistics — to calibrate his own approach to pitching. Greinke specifically mentioned "FIP" (fielding independent pitching), an indicator developed by sabermetrician Tom Tango, as his favorite statistic. "That's pretty much how I pitch, to try to keep my FIP as low as possible."[9]
On December 19, 2012, Grienka was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers along with Yuniesky Betancourt for Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jeremy Jeffress, and Jake Odorizzi
On July 27, 2012, Grienke was traded to the Los Angeles Angels for minor leaguers Ariel Pena, John Hellweg, and Jean Segura.
Personal life[]
Greinke is married to Miss Daytona Beach USA 2008 Emily Kuchar.[10] Greinke met Kuchar in high school at Apopka High School. Kuchar is a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.[11] Her brother is professional golfer Matt Kuchar.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Blum, Ronald. "Zack Greinke of Royals wins AL Cy Young Award". Yahoo! News. November 17, 2009.
- ↑ Gettis, Greinke win honors. MLB.com (2003-09-23). Retrieved on 2009-12-09.
- ↑ Eskew, Alan (2007-04-05). Greinke edged in duel with Dice-K. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2009-07-18.
- ↑ 'A long way to go' Greinke battles depression in bid for K.C. rotation. Sports Illustrated (2007-03-15). Retrieved on 2009-07-18.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Rising righty Greinke, Royals agree to four-year deal. CBS Sports (2009-01-26). Retrieved on 2009-07-18.
- ↑ Kaegel, Dick (2009-05-05). Greinke tops among AL hurlers in April. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2009-12-09.
- ↑ Dodd, Rustin (2009-08-26). Greinke's KC-record 15 K's wow Tribe. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2009-08-27.
- ↑ Bahr, Chris (2009-10-21). Sporting News names Zack Greinke, Tim Lincecum AL, NL Pitchers of the Year. Sportingnews.com. Retrieved on 2009-10-21.
- ↑ Tyler Kepner, "Use of Statistics Helps Greinke to A.L. Cy Young," New York Times, November 18, 2009.
- ↑ Jerry Crasnick: Zack Greinke is a changed man
- ↑ Quiet Greinke making plenty of noise
See also[]
External links[]
| Search Wikimedia Commons | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zack Greinke |
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Cliff Lee |
American League Cy Young Award 2009 |
Succeeded by: incumbent |
| Preceded by: Jon Lester |
American League Pitcher of the Month April 2009 |
Succeeded by: Justin Verlander |
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