Red Sox pitching prospect Zach Penrod didn't know if he'd pitch again after injury; about 'getting ahead' on hot start
“I know that if I bet on myself it's going to turn out alright,” Penrod said.
26-year-old starting pitcher Zach Penrod holds one of the more fascinating stories that can currently be found throughout all of baseball. Released by the Texas Rangers organization in 2020, having not featured in an affiliated game since 2018, Penrod finds himself a member of the Boston Red Sox organization.
After sporting just a 6.17 ERA in 11.2 innings in rookie ball with the Texas Rangers in 2018, Penrod underwent Tommy John Surgery in 2019. He never featured in another game for the organization, as he was released in 2020. Penrod says every day he had doubts if he would ever make it back to professional baseball.
“I was sitting on the couch and I was doing my exercises after surgery and I couldn’t turn my wrist,” Penrod said. “I was just thinking to myself, how am I going to make it back? How the heck am I ever going to throw a baseball again?”
Recovering from Tommy John Surgery is one of the most strenuous rehabs that an athlete can go through. The rehab process also goes beyond just the physical aspect.
“They always say the hardest part of recovery from TJ is the mental side and they were not kidding,” Penrod said. “Discovering the difference between being sore and pain, it’s a mental grind.”
Penrod continued his rehab and eventually returned to the mound in 2021, playing in the Pioneer League from 2021-2023. The first two seasons in the Pioneer League did not yield the same quality of results as his 54.1 innings for the Missoula Paddleheads did in 2023. Making 13 appearances for the Paddleheads, 10 of which were starts, the left-hander held a 2.98 ERA and a 10.8 K/9. In August of 2023, Penrod was signed by the Red Sox.
By the end of his first season with the Red Sox, Penrod was the winning pitcher in the clinching game for the South Atlantic League championship. In relief, he pitched five innings and recorded seven strikeouts.
“It’s about individual development a lot, but at the same time you get to the end of the season, you’re like man, might as well win that thing,” Penrod said. “Pitching in a championship is one of the coolest things I’ve done in my career.”
Coming into 2024, Penrod was assigned to the Portland Sea Dogs. The assignment to the Double-A club came with a lot of firsts for the 26-year-old.
“I’d never been to the Northeast, before Greenville I had never been east of Texas,” Penrod said. “I went to the Atlantic Ocean up here for the first time. It’s just wild how far baseball has taken me.”
Also for the first time in his career in an outing on May 12th, the lefty recorded double-digit strikeouts, tallying 10 in six innings of work. He mirrored that performance his next start with another 10 strikeouts in six more innings of work.
“It’s been about getting ahead, and if I don’t get to strike one, it’s getting back to even, then one and two, and forcing them to swing at pitches they don’t want to swing at,” Penrod said.
As Penrod said, getting ahead in the count is a key to success for him. He characterized his fastball as his best pitch, but also the way he uses it is what makes the difference.
“Being able to use the off-speed off of the fastball,” Penrod said. “Something we have been focusing on lately is using the slider effectively in the zone early to try to open up other ones later on.”
Getting in the strike zone with the pitcher's best stuff is part of the philosophy that has been implemented by the new pitching development regime. Not only is Penrod seeing the difference, but also one of his catchers, Mickey Gasper.
Gasper, a Minor League Rule-5 draft selection, caught Penrod’s most recent outing.
“I’m seeing a lot of confidence in whatever finger I put down, he believes in all three of his pitches,” Gasper said. “He’s attacking the zone, he’s limiting the walks which is a key with getting ahead. We could rely on his fastball if we needed to, but we are keeping guys off balance.”
On Wednesday night, the Red Sox promoted fellow starting pitching prospect Luis Perales to Double-A Portland where he will be joining the starting rotation. Given multiple factors like Penrod’s age, a strong start to the season, and general roster construction, a promotion to Triple-A for the starting pitcher could be coming soon.
Overall this season in 30 innings of work, Penrod has a 2.10 ERA with a 13.20 K/9 and a WHIP of 1.00. Among all pitchers at the Double-A level who have thrown as many innings as Penrod, he ranks third in K/9, 12th in ERA, and 11th in WHIP.
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