Zack Short #16

Went undrafted out of Kingston High School (Kingston, N.Y.) and went on to play three seasons at Sacred Heart (Fairfield, Conn.)...was named to the All-Northeast Conference Second Team as a freshman in 2014 and was selected to the All-NEC First Team in 2015...Was college teammates with Tigers RHP Jason Foley, and the duo both made their MLB debuts with Detroit in 2021...Short and Foley, who shared a dorm suite as sophomores and were roommates in a house as juniors, make up two of the three players to appear in the Majors in the history of Sacred Heart...Short had been optioned to Triple A Toledo as Foley was called up from Toledo to make his MLB debut in June 2021...Tigers manager A.J. Hinch allowed Short to remain with the big league club for an extra day so he could see the Foley's debut, which he watched from a stadium suite at Rate Field in Chicago on June 6, 2021...Zack grew up a Mets fan, even attending a game during the 2000 World Series at Shea Stadium, and got the chance to play at Sacred Heart while former Mets manager Bobby Valentine was the program's athletic director...Zack credits Valentine as a valuable mentor through his process in getting selected in the MLB draft...Selected by Chicago (NL) in the 17th round of the 2016 draft...signed by Cubs scout Matt Sherman...Was placed on his first career Opening Day roster with the Mets in 2024, finding out he earned the spot on March 24, 2024, just as camp was wrapping up...it was an emotional day for Zack on numerous levels, as he was informed his grandmother had passed away the same day..."It’s something bigger than me, that’s for sure,” Short said to MLB.com after receiving the news he had made the Mets Opening Day roster...Co-hosts "The Compound" podcast with former Minor League teammates Ian Happ and Dakota Mekkes, who he played with in the Cubs system the weekly podcast features the trio sharing their baseball-life experiences while interviewing guests...Has been a member of five different organizations since November 2023, first being claimed off waivers by the Mets from the Tigers that month...was then traded to the Red Sox on May 1, 2024, and traded to the Braves on May 9, 2024, before signing a Minor League contract with the Astros on Jan. 6, 2025.

2024

Made stops with three different MLB organizations, appearing in a total of 42 games at the big league level...batted .129 (9-for-70) with 11 runs scored, three doubles and five RBI in his MLB games...Made the Mets Opening Day roster and appeared in 10 games before being designated for assignment and traded to the Red Sox on May 1... played in two games for the Red Sox and was again designated for assignment, eventually traded to the Braves on May 9...Got his most extensive MLB playing time on the year with the Braves, appearing in 30 games and making 17 starts. Was designated for assignment by the Braves on July 25 and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A after going unclaimed on waivers... batted .216 (19-for-88) with 18 runs scored, three doubles, seven RBI and three stolen bases in 29 games with Triple A Gwinnett.

2023

Played in 112 games with Detroit, batting .204/.292/.339 with nine doubles, seven home runs and 33 RBI...Made his season debut in game one of a doubleheader on April 29 vs. Baltimore and went 3-4 with a home run...Slugged his first career pinch-hit home run on May 24 at Kansas City, a go-ahead three-run blast in the sixth to break a 1-1 tie...Went 1-for-2 with a home run, three RBI, two walks and a stolen base on Sept. 16 at Los Angeles-AL...Made six pitching appearances (6.0 IP)...Struck out Michael A. Taylor for his first career strikeout on Aug. 7 vs. Minnesota.

2022

Spent most of the 2022 season with Triple A Toledo, playing in 128 games with the Mud Hens... Ranked second in the International League with 88 walks, while he was tied for third with 31 doubles... Launched a pair of home runs and drove in seven on April 27 at Omaha... Appeared in 21 games with Toledo in April, hitting .300/.414/.600 with 10 doubles, a triple, four home runs and 14 RBI... Made his season debut for the Tigers in the first game of the doubleheader on July 21 at Oakland, going 0x3 with a run scored, a walk and a stolen base.

2021

Saw his first Major League action in 2021, appearing in 61 games with the Tigers...also played in 46 games with Triple-A Toledo...Made his Major League debut in the first game of the doubleheader April 21 vs. Pittsburgh, starting at third base and going 0-for-1 with two walks...became the ninth player in franchise history to walk twice in his first big league game, and first since Travis Demeritte on Aug. 2, 2019, at Texas...Picked up his first big league hit April 23 vs. Kansas City with a single off Mike Minor...On the injured list from May 16-23 with a concussion...Recorded the first stolen base of his Major League career on June 1 at Milwaukee...Hit the first home run of his Major League career in the first game of the doubleheader June 26 vs. Houston, a two-run shot off Framber Valdez...also added a double later in the game for his first big league multi-hit performance...Drove in a career-high three runs July 5 at Texas, hitting a two-run homer and a sacrifice fly...Homered in consecutive games for the first time in his career July 21-22 vs. Texas.

2020

Began the 2020 season in the Chicago Cubs organization, before being traded to the Tigers on August 31... After being acquired by Detroit, spent the month of September at the Alternate Training Site in Toledo... Ranked as the No. 28 prospect in the Cubs organization by Baseball America.

2019

Zack batted .235 (50-for-213) with 14 doubles, six home runs and 25 RBI in 63 games between Triple-A Iowa, Double-A Tennessee and rookie league Mesa...was limited to 63 games due to a broken left ring finger suffered on April 9 with Iowa...Between Iowa and Tennessee, played 40 games at shortstop and 15 games at second base...Began the season with Iowa, appearing in six games before suffering his broken left ring finger, April 9...appeared in six rehab games with Mesa beginning June 21 and was activated by Double-A Tennessee, June 30...On the season, posted a .363 on-base percentage and a .404 slugging percentage, good for a .767 OPS.

2018

Zack spent the entire season with Double-A Tennessee, his first appearance at the Double-A level...hit .227 (99-for-436) and scored a team-high 68 runs, while also leading the team with 28 doubles, 17 homers and 59 RBI...Batted .282 (24-for-85) with 19 RBI and 15 runs scored in June...Had a 12-game hitting streak from May 3-14, which included his second-career two-homer game, May 3...Ranked second in the Southern League with 82 walks ... his 28 doubles were fifth-most in the league.

2017

Split the season between Single-A South Bend and Single-A Myrtle Beach...batted a combined .250 (117-for-468) with 28 doubles, six triples and 13 homers in a career-high 131 games...drew 94 walks, contributing to a .383 OBP...With Myrtle Beach, he batted .263 (61-for-232) with 11 doubles and six homers.

2016

Made his pro debut with rookie league Mesa, appearing in 14 games...was promoted to Eugene and appeared in 39 games...batted a combined .257 (44-for-171) with nine doubles, one triple and one homer...drew 47 walks, contributing to a .427 OBP.