Zack Plunkett is a pitcher in the Dodgers organization that has one of the most interesting stories of any player in professional baseball, and we’re gonna start at the beginning. Plunkett grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and has known nothing other than being the best and being around the best. He played at L.D. Bell High School for the legendary Paul Gibson who is approaching his 3rd decade as the Blue Raider skipper and has amassed over 500 wins. While at L.D. Bell, Plunkett became a standout catcher and became District MVP, an all-area performer, was recognized as a top 500 High School player in the country by Perfect Game and was selected to participate in the Perfect Game National Showcase. If you’re wondering if listing him as a catcher earlier was a typo, it wasn’t, so settle in, grab your popcorn and let’s continue with the story of Zack Plunkett, “A Story You Won’t Believe”.
The Beginning
Growing up just 11 miles from Fort Worth, the young DFW native became a Diehard TCU fan and followed them very closely as he grew up.
My mom went and got her nursing degree at TCU when I was in Middle School and I got to watch them in the 2010 College World Series at Rosenblatt, and there was a catcher there by the name of Bryan Holaday and I absolutely idolized that guy because I loved the way that he played with such energy and he became my motivation behind the plate. It was local and I got to go watch some games so TCU was definitely a dream school for me.
After a very successful prep career, Plunkett followed his dreams and signed with TCU, and played on teams as a Freshman and Sophomore that both went to the College World Series. On the surface, it appeared like all of his dreams were coming true, but below the surface, he wasn’t getting the one thing that matters the most to people as competitive as he is, and that is playing time. Plunkett came into TCU with Evan Scaug, and Scaug was one of the best catchers in the Country as evidenced by him becoming a catcher on Team USA. With the writing on the wall, the 6’2 DFW native decided to leave the great state of Texas and transferred to Arkansas where he had to sit out a year because, well, no good reason other than the NCAA simply doesn’t always make sense or do the right thing for the Student-Athletes, I’ll leave it at that. 
Woo Pig Sooie!
After sitting out a year, Plunkett then found himself in yet another competition with yet another elite catcher, Grant Koch, who, the same as Scaug, also became a Team USA catcher as well. Plunkett again became relegated to backup duty, but because of his incredible work ethic, leadership skills, and the way he took B.P. before games, unbelievably he got drafted after his Junior Season after never having been a starting catcher on any of his teams in College. After talking with the Diamondbacks, Plunkett didn’t feel like the situation with the D-Backs was the best at the time, so he made the very difficult decision to come back to Arkansas. Don’t get me wrong, playing College baseball at Arkansas is insanely cool, but when College players come back for their Senior years they are taking chances at losing leverage, getting hurt, or just simply not playing well. Those are all very valid reasons for concern, but one concern that never enters the picture is whether they will actually be the starter when they come back. Well, that is, unless your name is Zack Plunkett. When Plunkett came back to Arkansas, he was faced with competing against yet another catcher that made Team USA, Casey Opitz, and, again, was relegated to backup duty. Plunkett was now a 5th-year Senior that wasn’t a starter with dreams of someday playing professional baseball, and as crazy as that sounds, it happened.
It Just Takes One
While at TCU, Plunkett had pitched 1 seemingly meaningless inning in a blowout game against Texas Tech, but that inning ended up not only not being meaningless, it became more important than he could have ever imagined. It was the only inning he threw in his entire college career, but luckily enough, Brian Kraft, an area scout was in the stands and took notice to the fact that he was sitting 95 with his fastball. So, time went on, Plunkett transferred, continued to be a backup and during the 2nd half of his last season at Arkansas that same scout, Brian Kraft, came to talk to him at Arkansas. The two had kept communications through the years since Plunkett’s days at TCU and Kraft told Plunkett that he couldn’t draft him as a catcher because he was a 5th year senior who had never been a starter. So, one could certainly assume that the story would end here, but grab another handful of popcorn and keep reading.
Although Kraft told Plunkett that he couldn’t draft him as a catcher, he also told him that he needed to start pitching and maybe he could get drafted as a pitcher. Plunkett had always been known as one with a big arm, had already registered 95 in a game at TCU, so why not, it was worth a good ole’ College try and Plunkett got on the phone with Matt Hobbs, the Arkansas pitching coach, and asked if he could throw some bullpens, which his pitching coach allowed. During his 1st bullpen session, and on the 3rd pitch he hit 97 and the Rapsodo machine was lighting up like a Christmas tree and everyone in the room was blown away. Despite showing some incredibly impressive pitch metrics, Dave Van Horn, the Arkansas Head Coach, never let him pitch in a game, so Plunkett was ending his Collegiate career never having been a starter, having pitched a grand total of 1 inning, and with concern that his career in the game of baseball was coming to an end. But, after having the extreme misfortune of having to sit behind 3 Team USA catchers, Plunkett caught a break. Remember Brian Kraft, the scout that saw him pitch his 1 inning at TCU? Well, he was so impressed with what he saw that night that he was able to convince Plunkett to give pitching a try, and when his metrics got out he got more attention from scouts and eventually got drafted in the 20th Round of the 2019 Draft. Plunkett’s amateur career had proven to be the ultimate in perseverance and is one that is truly inspirational and now he has his sites set on the biggest prize of all, the MLB.
Feature Cut
Plunkett has always had a big arm so becoming a pitcher was a natural fit, and, it actually matches his mentality as a player better too. Plunkett is so competitive that hitting was a struggle for him because failure always made him want to press harder, which many times makes things much more difficult. So, as a pitcher he can take that mentality and, as he says, “grip it and rip it”, and it absolutely works. He features a 3 pitch mix between Fastball, split-finger, and a slider and has pitched exclusively in relief roles with the Loons and Drillers so those 3 pitches are plenty for him to be very effective in a 1 or 2 inning role. His fastball sits 94-96 and has hit as high as 97, so it really jumps out of his hand.
Plunkett also features a split-finger pitch that has very good tumble.
Plunkett’s slider has very good depth and is a really effective pitch. The depth on the pitch, in my opinion, gives him the ability to present it as both a “curveball” type shape and a “slider” type shape based on the count and how he is attacking the hitter.
Predicting the Future
Although Plunkett is already 26 and is just starting at the AA level, that is not a measurable that is relevant because he just started pitching in 2019 and has very little wear and tear on his arm. Plunkett has the big 6’2 frame, has a big arm, good off-speed stuff, and is one of the most competitive people in the game, so he checks all the boxes for the Dodgers. 2021 was his first significant experience on the mound so he is getting ready to explode onto the scene in the next couple of years as another example of just how good this organization is at finding certain guys with certain qualities and skills and developing them into big-time Big Leaguers.
