Zach Vincej was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 37th round of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft out of Pepperdine. The scouting reports suggested that his glove was his carrying tool, a guy who could stick at shortstop. There were some questions about his ability to hit in the long run though.
In his first taste of pro baseball, his bat stood up well. In 38 games with the Billings Mustangs he hit .336/.393/.434. The following year he moved up to Dayton and held his own, hitting .263/.333/.358 for the Dragons. That was followed up by another promotion, this time to Bakersfield and the California League. While there he hit .271/.342/.336. The power coming down despite being in a hitter friendly league in a very hitter friendly ballpark was noteworthy, but he managed to hit for a solid average and get on base at a good clip.
Last season he made another move up the chain and spent the entire season in Pensacola with the Blue Wahoos. He walked nearly as often as he struck out (44 walks, 48 strikeouts), but he hit just .241 and his slugging fell to .329 on the season. He did set a career high with five home runs, but it came with just 10 doubles. Vincej would only play in 90 games on the season.
After being promoted every year of his career, the shortstop returned to Pensacola for the 2016 season. Things started out rough for Zach Vincej. He hit .217 in April and in May he was even worse, hitting .196 without a single walk in 54 plate appearances.
Everything has seemingly flipped since June began. After having just three extra-base hits in April and May combined, Vincej has tapped into some unseen before power. In his last 45 games, spanning 157 plate appearances the infielder has 12 doubles, three triples and three home runs. It’s helped him post a .331/.369/.514 slash line in that time.
What’s been interesting to see is that after walking 44 times in 339 plate appearances last season (13%), his walk rate has essentially dried up. In April he walked eight times. Since then he has managed to walk just five times in 211 plate appearances (2.4%). The hitting has been strong, but it’s certainly interesting to see how he’s gone from a patient hitter to a more aggressive one and watched his hitting performance improve dramatically. It usually doesn’t work that way, but Vincej has certainly been able to take advantage of it over the last two months.