Sport: Baseball
Born: August 3, 1995
Town: Gibbsboro, New Jersey
Zachary Peter Gallen was born August 3, 1995 in Somerdale and grew up in Gibbsboro. His parents, Jim and Stacey, were both athletic, as was his older brother, Jay, who starred along with Zac in the local baseball leagues. A pitcher from the time he could hold a ball, Zac played a game with his dad called 3-and-0. He would start with a 3–0 count and try to throw three strikes in a row. If he threw a ball, the count would revert back to 3–0 for a new batter. At the age of 9, he led his Little League squad to the championship game, out-pitching the circuit’s top 12-year-old, 10–1.
Tall and powerfully built, Zac eventually mastered two off-speed pitches to go with a live fastball. He played in high school for Bishop Eustace Prep in Pennsauken, under coach Sal Tropiano. As a senior in 2013, Zac was ranked among the Top 10 players in New Jersey.
The University of North Carolina offered Zac a scholarship and he grabbed it. He had been a fan of UNC baseball as long as he could remember. Zac’s freshman year with the Tar Heels saw him go 5–4 in 17 starts with a 4.64 ERA. His sophomore season, in 2015, was a step forward as he lowered his ERA to 2.79. After pitching in the Cape Cod league that summer, Zac had another solid year as a junior, lowering his ERA even further. That season coach Mike Fox named him a co-captain.
The Cardinals selected Zac in the third round of the 2016 June draft. The team assigned him to its squad in the Gulf Coast League and he turned a 1.86 ERA in three starts and three relief appearances. Among his teammates was first-round pick Dakota Hudson. In 2017, Zac split the season between A-level Palm Beach, AA Springfield and AAA Memphis. He made 26 starts in all and went 10–8.
Zac was a key piece in a December trade with the Marlins, who traded slugger Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis. The other players included Sandy Alcantara. Zac spent the entirety of 2018 with New Orleans of the PCL, going 8–9 with 136 strikeouts in 133 1/3 innings. The Marlins were hoping Zac could pitch his way onto the roster in 2019, but he got shelled in Spring Training and was handed a ticket back to Triple-A. He was promoted after he started the year with 9 wins in 10 decisions. Zac made his Marlins debut on June 20 against his old club and pitched five innings of one-run ball in a no-decision.
Zac got his first win as a major leaguer a month later against the White Sox. He matched Reynaldo Lopez through seven scoreless innings before the Marlins scored a pair of runs in the top of the eighth to win, 2–0. Zac came to the majors with a low-90s fastball but a plus cutter, curve and change. He demonstrated control of all four pitches right from the start, racking up more than a strikeout an inning.
As the 2019 trade deadline neared, most experts believed Zac—who was sporting a sub-3.00 ERA—would be off the table. But the Marlins were in the market for a young shortstop and they found one in Arizona’s Jazz Chisholm. The price was Zac, even-up. He joined his new club on his birthday and was thrilled to be with a team in the playoff hunt. His catcher, Carson Kelly, was a familiar face from their days in the Cardinals farm system. Zac went 2–3 in 8 starts with a 2.83 ERA and 53 strikeouts.
In the Covid-shortened 2020 season , Zac set a new record when he completed his 23rd career start and hadn’t allowed more than 3 earned runs from the beginning of his career. He finished the year 3–2 and received a handful of votes in the Cy Young Award balloting.
The 2021 season was a step backwards for Zac. His ERA ballooned over 4.00 and he went 4–10. But by 2022, he was back on track and hd a lights-out season for the punchless Diamondbacks. Zac went 12–4 with a 2.54 ERA and a career-high 192 strikeouts. No starter in baseball gave up fewer hits per 9 innings and he led the NL in WHIP (walks+hits/innings pitched). Zac was named NL Pitcher of the Month in August, when he won 5 of 6 starts, including a 12-strikeout game against the Giants.
Zac took a huge step forward in 2023, winning 17 games, striking out 220 batters and starting the All-Star Game for the National League. He was part of the Cy Young conversation most of the year. Zac led the Diamondbacks into the playoffs, and started Game Two of the Wild Card round against the Brewers. He survived an ugly first inning to win 5–2 and close out the series. He helped himself in the third inning when Sal Frelick lined a rocket up the middle. Zac snared it but it tore his glove off. He calmy retrieved the ball and started a back-breaking 1–6–3 double play.
The D-Backs became the NL’s Cinderella team in the postseason. They swept the heavy favored Dodgers in the Division Series, with Zac winning the second game, 4–2. The Phillies roughed up Zac in the opening game of the NLCS, and beat him again in Game 5. Arizona recovered to win the next two games to capture their first pennant since 2001.
In the World Series against the Texas Rangers, the magic finally ran out for the Diamondbacks. Zac left Game 1 with a lead after five innings but the Rangers came back to win 6–5 in the ninth inning. He got the ball again for Game 5 with his team down 3 games to 1. He left the game leading in the ninth but the usually reliable Arizona bullpen couldn’t hold, and Texas won in 11 innings. Zac’s ERA in two World Series starts was 3.18 with 11 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings.