Zumwalt a familiar face to Rays
By Paul C. Smith / MLB.com
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Devil Rays were quite familiar with Alec Zumwalt,
as a hitter and as a pitcher, when they took a chance on him in December's
Rule 5 Draft.
Zumwalt, 22, is the third conversion player the Rays have added to their roster
in the past two seasons. He follows Jorge Sosa, a Rule 5 pick in 2002, and
Brandon Backe as pitchers who started out in the minors as outfielders. The
arm strength on all three is what made them stand out.
But it's not just the Rays' scouts who remember Zumwalt from 2001, when he
played right field for Class A Macon in the Braves' system.
"I remember one game in Charleston, he hit a line-drive home run off me, out to
center field," said Rays pitcher Seth McClung.
"It was a bomb," said Rocco Baldelli, who watched the ball soar past him in
center field.
Fast forward two years. Zumwalt was converted into a pitcher, and he again
caught the Rays' attention. This time, however, he was on their team -- the
Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League.
Zumwalt went 2-1 with a 4.87 ERA and one save in 13 appearances and, along with
Rays prospects Dewon Brazelton, Jonny Gomes, Pete LaForest and Carlos Hines,
helped lead the Solar Sox to the AFL championship.
"He's got a fine, power arm," said Rays director of scouting and player
development Cam Bonifay. "He's one of the better young pitching prospects who
is getting better all the time."
The Rays paid $50,000 for the right to draft Zumwalt and must keep him on the
25-man Major League roster for the entire 2004 season or offer him back to the
Braves for $25,000.
"Once he became a pitcher, he came pretty fast," said Braves assistant general
manager Frank Wren. "He throws in the low 90s and has the potential to become
a middle or setup reliever in the Majors. He was in consideration for the
final few slots [of our 40-man roster]. We were afraid we were going to lose
him."
The Rays traded Backe at the Winter Meetings and lost several other young
pitching prospects during the offseason, so Zumwalt was a nice addition.
"We had great reports from our scouts about him," said new Rays pitching coach
Chuck Hernandez. "He's got a fine delivery and good arm. He reminds me of
Brandon Backe because of how smooth the transition was from outfield to pitcher.
He has been impressive so far [in camp]." Zumwalt said he doesn't look at his
first three years in the minors as a waste.
"I wouldn't be as good a pitcher as I am right now if I hadn't gone through
what I did as a hitter," Zumwalt said. "You don't have to be a .300 hitter to
know about hitting."
After his third season in the minors as an outfielder, with a combined average
of .217 with 12 home runs in 743 at-bats, the Braves strongly suggested a
change.
"They told me they didn't think I was going to go any higher as a hitter,"
Zumwalt said. "They said they thought my ceiling was higher as a pitcher than
as a hitter."
Zumwalt went to the instructional league in 2001 and worked hard to start the
conversion.
"At that time, it still wasn't set in stone that I was going to be a pitcher,"
Zumwalt said. "But things went really well. I threw a lot of strikes, even
though I had only a fastball and slider and had not yet developed a changeup."
In his first full year of pitching, with Macon and Myrtle Beach in 2002,
Zumwalt struggled with consistency.
"I was still figuring so much out," Zumwalt said. "I was just throwing. I
didn't know what I was doing."
But more instructional league work between the 2002 and '03 seasons started to
bring results.
"I developed confidence," Zumwalt said. "I also improved my mental preparation,
started locating my pitches a lot better and I started having fun with it. It
all meant that I was more consistent. Up until that point I was thinking that
maybe I should still be a hitter."
Many people contributed along the way. But two coaches, Bruce Dal Canton at
Myrtle Beach and Rick Adair in the instructional league, were key to Zumwalt's
development on the mound.
"I owe them so much for helping in so many areas," Zumwalt said.
Zumwalt knows a low percentage of conversion players make it to the Majors.
"Dal Canton used the example of Trevor Hoffman," Zumwalt said. "It only takes
one guy to give you hope."
Zumwalt started his quest to make the Rays with an impressive batting practice
against the Rays' hitters on Tuesday and feels quite comfortable in camp.
"I had confidence coming out of the 2003 season and took it to the Arizona Fall
League, where you are playing against the best players in the minor leagues,"
Zumwalt said. "[Mesa] was a very good, close team. And it was nice to see some
familiar faces when I got here."
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Arizona native also is very aware of what he needs to
do this spring -- impress Lou Piniella.
"I have a chance, and I have to make the most of it," Zumwalt said.
All along, Piniella has been right down the middle about the right-hander's
chances.
"We like his arm. That's why we took him," Piniella said. "But he's going to
have to impress in camp by throwing strikes. Things would have to fall right
in terms of our roster for him to make it.
"But we'd be ahead as an organization if we could keep good young arms like
him."
--
Paul C. Smith is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the
approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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