When the Cincinnati Reds drafted Zach Vincej in the 39th round in 2012 out of Pepperdine he was noted for his strong defense at shortstop, but he had what was described as a light bat, particularly when it came to hitting for power.
In the five seasons he’s played since then that has held true. While he’s hit for a solid average in those five seasons, .272 – including a .281 average this season with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos in Double-A, he’s hit one, three, one, five and three home runs in each season. He’s only topped 17 doubles twice along the way as well. Power simply hasn’t been a part of his game, though as a shortstop it doesn’t have to be.
After his best full-season at the plate in 2016 the Reds sent the Gold Glove winning shortstop to the Arizona Fall League. As a player who will be Rule 5 draft eligible this year if he’s left unprotected, it’s a chance for the team to get one final look at him on the field before making a decision on whether they should protect him by adding him to the 40-man roster, or leave him exposed and risk another team taking a chance that he can carve out a utility infielder role on a big league roster in 2017.
Through the first seven games of the Arizona Fall League it’s hard to imagine that things could be going much better for Zach Vincej. In the one game that he went without a hit he still drove in a run. In his first game of the season with the Peoria Javelinas he homered and drove in three runs. In the next game he smacked a solo home run. On October 22nd he would triple and drive in two more runs.
Yesterday was perhaps the biggest game though. Peoria entered the 9th inning trailing 3-0. With two outs and no one on base the Javelinas started a rally with back-to-back doubles to get on the board. A walk and an error followed that loaded the bases for Zach Vincej. He worked himself into a favorable count before taking a 3-1 pitch and smashing a walk-off grand slam, his third home run of the short fall league season.
That home run matched his 2016 regular season total of three. In just seven games in Arizona, Zach Vincej has hit as many home runs as he hit in 121 games while playing in the Southern League with Pensacola. With Peoria the middle infielder is now hitting .346/.370/.769 with a league high three home runs (tied), 12 RBI and he’s also leading the league in slugging percentage.