Sample Player Profile Page

GREINKE, ZACK


Nickname:	N/A	Position:	P
Home:	Apopka, Florida	Team:	ROYALS
Height:	6' 2"	Bats:	R
Weight:	190	Throws:	R
DOB:	10/21/1983	Agent:	N/A
Birth City:	Orlando, Florida	Draft:	Royals #1 - 2002 - Out of Apopka H.S. (Fla.)
Uniform #:	23		Royals #1 - 2002 - Out of Apopka H.S. (Fla.)

YR	LEA	TEAM	SAL(K)	G	IP	H	SO	BB	GS	CG	SHO	SV	W	L	OBA	ERA
2002	GCL	Royals		3	5	3	4	3	3	0	0	0	0	0		1.93
2002	NWL	SPOKANE		2	5	9	5	0	2	0	0	0	0	0		7.71
2002	CAR	WILMINGTON		1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0.00
2003	CAR	WILMINGTON		14	87	56	78	13	14	3	1	0	11	1		1.14
2003	TL	WICHITA		9	53	58	34	5	8	9	9	9	4	3		3.23
2004	PCL	OMAHA		6	29	25	23	6	6	0	0	0	1	1		2.51
2004	AL	ROYALS	$300.00	24	145	143	100	26	24	0	0	0	8	11		3.97
2005	AL	ROYALS	$331.00	33	183	233	114	53	33	2	0	0	5	17		5.80
2006	TL	WICHITA		18	105.2	96	94	27	17	1	0	0	8	3	96	4.34
2006	AL	ROYALS		3	6.1	7	5	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.28	4.26
2007	AL	ROYALS	$407.00	52	122	122	106	36	14	0	0	1	7	7	0.265	3.69
2008	AL	ROYALS	$1,400.00	32	202.1	202	183	56	32	1	0	0	13	10	0.257	3.47
2009	AL	ROYALS	$3,750.00	33	229.1	195	242	51	33	6	3	0	16	8	0.23	2.16
2010	AL	ROYALS	$7,250.00	28	188.1	185	155	44	28	2	0	0	8	11	0.258	3.87

PERSONAL:
Zack's father, Don Greinke, is a middle school teacher. His mother also was a school teacher. Both are retired now (2009), but they keep busy. "My mom can't help but find work somewhere, she just has to be doing something. My dad just fixes the yard and goes to the gym every day and that's about it. My mom just keeps finding work and takes the dog on a bunch of walks and stuff," Greinke said.	His senior year at Apopka High School in Florida, Zack signed a letter of intent with Clemson. The school was impressed with his 9-2, 0.55 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 63 innings. But the Royals signed Greinke to a bonus of $2.475 million. Cliff Pastornicky was the scout who signed him.

Greinke is intelligent and a gentleman with excellent manners. He is intelligent, which is apparent with his being an honors student at Apopka High School in Florida. But he is not very talkative�not to reporters, not even to teammates. He thinks through his responses and then replies. But characterizing him with any particular adjective is like trying to describe the sky with a single word. Some days he's aloof. Some days he's poignant. Some days he's brilliant. Some days he's hushed.	�He's a very quiet kid,� pitching coach John Cumberland said early in 2004 spring training. �And he's a little bit different. But different in a good way. I don't mean anything negative by that. He has a lot of confidence in himself. He's cocky, and I don't see anything wrong with that. He believes in himself. He's not been intimidated so far in his pro career by anybody. I hope that continues.�

An amazing athlete, Zack played both tennis and golf in the 14-year-old age group when he was just 11 years old. Greinke used to play Ping-Pong with a friend, Ricky Santo, and lost every time. It killed him. So Greinke replayed individual points�his head a working TiVo that dissected Ricky's game�and pounded Ricky the next five games they played.	At 4, Greinke played first base because he was the only kid on the team who consistently caught the ball. He liked it when his father, Don, cut a hole in the fence behind their Orlando house so they could escape to the Conway Middle School field for a catch. In high school, Greinke would rap on Sonny Hill's door at 7:30 a.m. in the fall, begging his coach to come outside for some tossing before school.

�Passion, I tell you,� Hill said. �He always had it. He always was ahead of everyone else, and it's because he loved it.� Oh, he loved other aspects of it, too. A high school tournament in Atlanta held a home-run derby before the games. Before he used all his outs, Greinke already clinched the competition. Then he started batting left-handed. No good reason, it seemed, other than to show off. Which Greinke did when he blasted a home run, tossed his bat and walked off the field. (Jeff Passan-K.C. Star-5/19/04)	Greinke has played the game almost year-round since Little League baseball won his heart over tennis and golf. But because his parents have been watchful, his coaches mindful of his long-term future in the game, and his teams deep in pitching, he might be the ultimate prize prospect: a Sun Belt high school ace with a fresh arm.

Zack is a baseball rat who just likes to work at and play the game. He has great makeup. Greinke was named to the 2003 Futures Game roster, played July 13 at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. Zack was named the 2003 Carolina League Pitcher of the Year. He went 11-1 with a 1.14 ERA at Class A Wilmington before his promotion to Double-A Wichita. And he was named the Royals' 2003 Minor League Pitcher of the Year, as the Alex George award winner. Greinke held Carolina League opponents to a .178 average.	Greinke said he is pretty thrifty and hasn't spent much of the $2.475 bonus he received from the Royals. "I haven't spent that much," he said. "My goal is to be the cheapest millionaire in history." That frugal nature started as a child. "I'd get allowances from my parents but I'd always keep some to put in the bank," Greinke said. "I think that made my parents proud."

Not that Greinke has tucked away every nickel from that signing bonus. He did invest in a house, a car for himself and a truck for his brother. Oh, and "a couple of clothes." The car he chose was a Lincoln LS. Before 2004 spring training, Baseball America ranked Zack as the top prospect in the Royals organization.	Zack's girlfriend in 2005 was a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. Greinke is a bit of a character, and charmingly honest. For example: say a Royals pitcher gives up a long home run. He stomps around the dugout grumbling, �I didn�t think it was that bad a pitch.� Greinke will say: �Oh yeah, it was a bad pitch.� �Thanks, Zack.� �No, really. I went back and looked at on the video. It was a fat pitch. Right down the middle. It was terrible. I could have hit it out.� �All right! Got it! Thanks, Zack.�

�Um,� Greinke will say then as he sees anger twisting in his teammate�s face, �did I say something wrong?" (Joe Posnanski-KC Star-1/15/06) Greinke always had a talent for looking bored. Everyone noticed it. Scouts, in fact, wrote those words, "He looks bored," on their reports again and again. During interviews Greinke would stare at the ceiling, as if the answers could be divined from the tiles. Before games Greinke would sit in front of his locker and look off into the distance.	Zack left the Royals spring camp on February 25, 2006. For two weeks, his absence went unexplained. It was then found that Greinke was undergoing counseling from a sports psychologist near his home in Orlando, Florida, as part of a treatment program for longstanding emotional issues. For all of his 22 years, Greinke has been a man defined by two powerful but disconnected traits: 1) He is a phenomenal baseball player; and 2) He is emotionally unequipped to handle everything that comes with playing at the highest level.

Small talk always eluded him. Locker rooms, clubhouses and crowds made him uncomfortable. He felt out of place everywhere but the mound. Then, two months ago, he felt lost there, too. During one spring-training bullpen session, everything spilled out, forcing him to finally deal with longstanding emotional issues. �The way I was throwing,� he says, �it wasn�t me throwing. I couldn�t throw a strike. I couldn�t think about throwing a strike. I couldn�t focus. And I had the worst bullpen of my life one day, and the next time I was trying to throw my arm off just because I was going crazy. I was throwing everything 100 miles per hour. That�s when I was like, I can�t keep doing this.�	From an early age, Greinke didn�t know what to do with empty spaces. Even during Little League, he hated to arrive at the ballpark a half-hour before games. He never seemed to know what to do or say. �I knew there was something wrong with me,� he says, �but I never thought about going to see anyone to talk about it.� He gravitated toward solitary pursuits. Even today, he loves golf, fishing, and mountain climbing. High above Phoenix, where he likes to trek, he can look down on everyone else, happy up near the clouds.

Growing up, there were signs. As about an 8-year-old tennis player, with a 50-0 record, he finally got beat. It was the only tournament match he lost, and he said it�s the last one he played. �I lost on purpose,� he says. �I had problems; I�d get real nervous before the games. The last time, I got so nervous and I was like, �Dad, I can�t play anymore.� I was going crazy thinking I was gonna lose. I got so nervous I ended up hitting every ball straight into the net. The second set, I was loose and I beat the guy like 6-2. I ended up quitting in the last one. I hit them into the net again.� (Wright Thompson-K.C. Star-4/20/06)	In 2005, Greinke apologized to his teammates for the way he treated them. "I treated a lot of them like crap because I felt so miserable that I acted rude to everyone," he told the Kansas City Star. "I was taking it out on people I was friends with. The way I was doing it, it was out of control." Zack two months off at the start of 2006, during which he was found to have social anxiety disorder, a condition marked by tension in social settings. He began taking medication, which made a big difference. He began to think more positively about baseball, too, which made a big difference. When he returned to pitch that June of 2006, at Double A Wichita, he found himself enjoying the experience. He started to throw as hard as he could.

During 2007 spring training, Zach explained the despair he went through in 2006: �I really don�t know what it is or what it was,� Greinke began. �Depression kind of runs in my family. Supposedly, it goes down through (genetically). But I don�t know if that�s what I was actually going through. �The medicine I take is an antidepressant. So (depression) must have something to do with it. That and social anxiety. But I don�t think it was a serious case. I mean, I never thought about killing myself. �It was always, once I got away from baseball, I was fine. So I didn�t think about it as (an emotional disorder). I just thought that, at the baseball field, I was unhappy.�	That misery reached such depths that Greinke often contemplated quitting baseball while still in the minors. His inability to handle the down time between starts heightened his turmoil and made him yearn to be a hitter or at least a relief pitcher. �I�d talk to my agent all the time and ask him: �How can I tell the Royals that I don�t want to pitch? That I want to try hitting?� � said Greinke, who added he knew there was no chance of that happening, which increased his frustration. �I thought that was why I hated baseball. I thought it was because I wanted to hit.

�It would be at least once a month that I�d be crying to myself while I�m going to bed with a bat in my hand, just swinging it. It�s stupid. That doesn�t happen anymore.� (Bob Dutton-KC Star-2/22/07) April 13, 2007: Zack was granted a leave from the team to attend the funeral of his grandparents. After traveling to Kansas City to watch their grandson's start against the Boston Red Sox, Mary L. and John B. Wilkin died within hours of each other on April 12 and April 13. Greinke was suspended for five games and fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally throwing at Nick Swisher during a game on August 3, 2008 after warnings had been issued to both Clubs following a bench-clearing incident.	Greinke likes playing cards with teammates to pass time before games. His favorites? "Pluck, Spades or Hold 'Em�all those are good," he said. Is Greinke good at it? "I think so, I don't know what everyone else thinks." Does he win? "Sure, I win more than I lose. I guess I could be wrong, but I think I do." Greinke is always the competitor, of course, but he finds cards as a way to relax. "I feel like it's best when you don't get intense in cards and just stick to the plan and strategy and don't really mess with it, because when you do something that doesn't work or the odds aren't in your favor, you're going to lose more than you're going to win that way. So that's how I play," Greinke said.

He also plays golf, or just stays on the computer during "down" time. Zack became engaged to Emily Kuchar, his high school sweetheart, early in 2009. He let her handle almost all of the wedding arrangements. And on November 21, 2009, the two were married. Emily is a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. Late in 2010 spring training, Tracy Ringolsby FSN Rocky Mountain writer asked Greinke where his Cy Young trophy was. "My parents have it," Zack said. "It's probably hanging up, above the fireplace. They get all my awards. I've only kept one." And that one is? "Mizuno gave me a samurai sword," Greinke said. "We're shipping it to Kansas City. I couldn't take it on the plane. It's cool." Zack doesn't particularly enjoy the public life, but there is no false front for him. Former manager Buddy Bell put it best when he once said that Greinke always tells the truth, "even when he shouldn't." Greinke said, "I am the same person I always have been, but my attitude is different. I used to get so nervous and upset. I was always angry and doing stuff. I over-trained. I'd do something and wouldn't feel it was good enough and so I'd go out and run three miles or five miles." TRANSACTION REPORT	June 2002: The Royals took Zack in the first round, out of Apopka High School in Florida. February 7, 2008: The Royals and Greinke avoided salary arbitration when they settled for about $1.4 million. January 20, 2009: Zack and the Royals filed for salary arbitration. Greinke asked for $4.4 million and the Royals countered at $3.4 million. But on January 26, 2009: Greinke and the Royals agreed to a 4-year, $38 million contract with the Royals. The deal called for Zack to receive $3.75 million in 2009, $7.25 million in 2010 and $13.5 million in 2011 and 2012.

PITCHING:
Greinke is the ace of the pitching staff�someone to build a staff around. Even though he has had some rough seasons�like 2005�Zack has amazing ability and can change his style. He can be a power guy like Roger Clemens, or he can be a finesse guy like Brad Radke. Or, he can end up in the middle. Zack throws his 4-seam FASTBALL in the 92-97 mph range with good movement. He also has a heavy-sinking 2-seamer at 89-92 mph. And he has a quality CHANGEUP and hits spots with his late-biting SLIDER, a new spike-CURVEBALL and a CUT FASTBALL. His slider has depth. He has a spike grip on his curve to get more movement on it. And he can slow his curveball all the way to like 63 mph and speed it up to like about 78 mph. Probably only Pedro Martinez could vary speeds 30 mph, from a 65 mph curveball to a 95 mph fastball. Zack goes 63 mph to 97 mph.	Great pitchers have one or two killer pitches. Greinke has a three or four of them. Who is he pitching like? Well, a lot of people say Greg Maddux, but no, seems to me they�re actually quite different. I think a much better comparison would be someone like Satchel Paige, who threw so many different pitches he would name them (the hesitation pitch, the bat dodger, the trouble ball, the midnight creeper, etc.). He seems a lot like Juan Marichal, who would combat batters with a flurry of different motions and angles and pitches � hitting Marichal was like trying to hit a geometry lesson. (Joe Posnanski-K.C. Star-5/27/09)

Zack has smooth, easy arm action and a compact delivery. He repeats his delivery real well. He has excellent command of all of his offerings. He likes to move his heater on both corners of the strike zone. And he pitches well north and south (up and down) in the strike zone, too. And that is unusual for a pitcher to do well on all four edges of the strike zone. Zack is a solid righthanded power pitcher. He is tenacious on the mound -- a real bulldog. You have to like his mental tougness, polish, and poise. In fact, his poise could be at the heart of his success. He over powers batters both physically and mentally.	Greinke is a student of the game. And he is always absorbing more information from his pitching coach. Zack keeps a book on hitters. He studies them even when he is not charting them the day before his start, or pitching against them. And he charts all his own pitches. He watches opponents during batting practice, noticing where they hit the ball. He knows baseball and loves pitching, studying it day and night. It is his mind that separates him from other pitchers. He understands the weaknesses of hitters and he has the command to pitch to those weaknesses with all four pitches. He carves guys up, with superb control, while altering speeds on both his fastball and curve.

Zack is calm. He has even been known to take a nap before he warms up to start a game. And on the mound, he never looks nervous.\| �I am relaxed out there,� Greinke said, �because I'm confident in my abilities. I let my teammates play behind me. There's no need to get nervous because everything has already been taken care of on defense.� Greinke doesn't get a lot of strikeouts because he endeavors to get hitters to hit a weak ground-out early in the count. That allows him to pitch later into games. In 2004, one American League scout told Jeff Flanagan of the Kansas City Star: �I think he likes getting guys out without using his best pitch. He kind of toys with hitters. He might throw an 83-mph fastball one pitch and dial it up to 93 the next. He threw it at 95 in high school, but I don't think he feels a need.	�He constantly changes speeds on every pitch. He was at the 2003 Futures All-Star Game and he had just gotten two guys out, and then he throws a 58-mph curveball that bounces in front of the plate. He throws two strikes that are fouled off, and then he bounces another 61-mph curve. The next pitch is a dart on the corner at 92, strike three. The hitter didn't know what to expect. �His composure and presence are way beyond his age.� In 2004 spring training, Royals President Dan Glass said he was most impressed with one of Greinke's Major League goals: �He wants to have a three-pitch inning,� Glass said. �Most guys would want to strike three guys out in an inning, but he wants a three-pitch inning. That's pretty cool.�

"He looks like he's 12 years old, but he's got the heart of a lion and the mind of a very, very wise person," former Royals manager Tony Pena said in 2004. "This kid, he pitches like he has been in the big leagues for 20 years. He looks like a veteran on the mound. He doesn't let anything get to him." In May 2007, the Royals sent Greinke to the bullpen after he got off to a poor start, going 1-4 with a 5.71 ERA. For his previous five games, he allowed 22 runs in 22 innings�a 9.14 ERA. Zack thrived as a relief pitcher, and was a huge help to the Royals' bullpen. He was very comfortable pitching in relief. In April 2009, Greinke was incredibly dominant, going 5-0 with a 0.50 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 36 innings. He allowed only two earned runs, threw two complete games, and became only the fifth pitcher since 1912 to post a 5-0 first month while owning an ERA under 1.00.	On August 25, 2009: Zack struck a Royals' franchise record 15 in a 6-2 win over the Indians at Kauffman Stadium. That knocked Mark Gubicza out of the Royals' record book. For his incredible 2009 season, Greinke led the American League in ERA (2.16) and was 2nd in strikeouts (242), behind only Justin Verlander (269) of the Tigers. With Zack's 242 strikeouts and 51 walks, he fanned 191 more batters than he walked in '09. There is a stat called ERA+ that compares a pitcher�s ERA to the league�s, producing a number that can be handy to rank pitchers historically. An ERA+ of 100 is exactly average, an ERA+ of 110 is 10 percent better than league average, and so on. Greinke�s ERA+ of 203 is the best in the American League (minimum 200 innings) since Pedro Martinez (291) in 2000. In fact, Greinke was just the fifth pitcher to have an ERA of less than half the league average while striking out more than 200. And on November 17, 2009: Greinke was named the American Cy Young Award winner for 2009. BREAKDOWN VS. LEFTIES AND RIGHTIES

In 2004, this righty pitcher allowed a .251 average with 9 home runs in 83 innings pitched to lefthanded hitters. Righthanded batters hit .262 with a whopping 17 home runs off Greinke in 62 innings. In 2005, Greinke allowed lefthanded hitters a .340 average and 13 home runs in 377 at-bats; while righthanded batters hit .279 with 10 homers, also in 377 at-bats. In 2007, Greinke allowed a .266 average with 5 home runs in 237 at-bats vs. lefthanded hitters. And a .263 average with 7 home runs in 224 at-bats vs. righthanded hitters. In 2008, Greinke allowed lefthanded batters a .287 average with 11 home runs in 362 at-bats. Righthanded batters had only a .232 average with 10 home runs in 423 at-bats. In 2009, Zack allowed lefty hitters a .250 with 4 homers in 408 at-bats, while righthanded batters hit just .211 with 7 homers in 441 at-bats.	Zack started the 2010 season with a career record of 50-53 and a 3.73 ERA, having given up 94 home runs and 902 hits in 888 innings.

FIELDING:
Zack is an excellent hitter�not just for a pitcher�he's better than a lot of the hitters on his team. Greinke fields his position well. He holds runners on base well, too.

CAREER INJURY REPORT:
2006: Greinke missed spring training and started the season on the 60-day D.L. while undergoing treatment for emotional issues in Orlando, Florida. He received psychological testing and medication as part of his treatment. Zack was activated on June 21, 2006, and sent to the Wichita Wranglers (TL-Royals) to work his way back into pitching shape.