Zach Zaneski

Zachary Peter Zaneski

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 215 lb.
• School University of Rhode Island
• High School Norwich Free Academy

• Born June 27, 1986 in Waterford, CT USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Catcher Zach Zaneski played in the minor leagues from 2008 to 2014. He was never drafted in spite of a solid career at the University of Rhode Island and started his pro career in the independent Frontier League, with the Midwest Sliders. However, after just one game, he was signed by the Texas Rangers on June 13th and assigned to the Spokane Indians of the Northwest League. He played 30 games there, batting .252, starting a career in which he seemed destined to be only a back-up.

In 2009, he played at three diferent levels, including AAA when he appeared in 4 games for the Oklahoma City RedHawks. The bulk of his season was spent back with Spokane, and he also lent a hand to the Hickory Crawdads of the South Atlantic League. In 45 games, he batted .255/.342/.340. He followed that up with his best season with Hickory in 2010 when he hit .310/.380/.488 in 85 games. He set personal bests for games, batting average, homers and RBIs that year and was an organizational All-Star. In 2011, he moved up to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Carolina League and did well again, with a line of .281/.344/.409 in 73 games. By then he had worked his way into prospect status, and in 2012 played 61 games in AA with the Frisco RoughRiders, batting .282/.353/.416. He was a mid-season All-Star in both 2011 and 2012. However, 2013 proved to be a turning point, as his batting average fell to .190 in 48 games with Frisco. He was still given a late-season promotion to the Round Rock Express of the AAA Pacific Coast League but did not do much better there, hitting .217 in 7 games. he was let go by the Rangers after going hitless in his first three games for Frisco in 2014, his contract was old to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on May 14th. He appeared briefly with both the AA Arkansas Travelers and AAA Salt Lake Bees that year, batting .241/.300/.398. Overall, in seven minor league seasons, he batted.268 in 376 games, with 30 homers and 188 RBIs.

the highlight of his career came on June 12, 2011 with Myrtle Beach. That day, he caught all 23 innings of a marathon 3-2 loss to the Kinston Indians in what was the longest game in Carolina League history, a game that took 6 hours and 27 minutes to complete. The catcher for Kinston that day was future major leaguer Roberto Pérez, who also lasted the full game.