Rob Zastryzny

Position: LHP
Born: 3/26/1992
Height: 6'3
Weight: 205
B/T: R/L
Acquired: Drafted in the second round of the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft (CHC).

Most Recent Stats at Time of Debut
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 10-5 with a 4.31 ERA in 24 games between Tennessee (Double-A) and Iowa (Triple-A), striking out 119 while walking 51 and allowing 117 hits in 135.2 IP.

Info & MLB Debut Date
Contract purchased from Iowa August 19 along with RHP Felix Pena when RHPs John Lackey and Hector Rendon were placed on the 15-day DL and RHPs Aaron Brooks and Dallas Beeler were transferred from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL to clear space on the 40-man roster.
MLB Debut Date: 8/19/2016

Debut Details
August 19, in a 7-6 10-inning loss to the Rockies. The fifth of six pitchers, he allowed two hits in one scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one. Of 22 pitches thrown, 12 were for strikes. Starting the 10th inning in relief of Felix Pena, he struck out the first batter he faced, Charlie Blackmon, swinging and then got David Dahl to ground out to second. He surrendered back-to-back singles to D.J. LeMahieu and Carlos Gonzalez and walked Nolan Arenado to load the bases before getting Gerardo Parra to ground out to first base to end the threat and leave the game tied at 4-4.

Player Notes
Aside from the obvious fact that he may have his name misspelled more than every other debutante this season combined (with the possible exception of Zach Eflin who I still type as “Elfin”), Zaz now joins a team that already has Matt Szczur on its roster (at least that’s easier to pronounce than it is to spell). And I’m not the first to note and won’t be the last to note that if you also throw in Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist and Javier Baez, the Cubs may lead the majors in Zs. He is also the first of our 198 debutantes so far this season whose last name begins with the letter Z. But I digress … Zaz missed some time earlier this season with shoulder fatigue, but earned Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week honors to kick off August, tossing 11 shutout innings and showing he was healthy again. He’d missed half of 2015 with a broken ankle, posting a combined 2-5 record and 5.98 ERA in 15 starts between Mesa (Rookie League) and Tennessee, striking out 52 and walking 30 in 64.2 IP while allowing 80 hits, after posting a 4-6 record and 4.66 ERA at Daytona (High A) in 2014, fanning 110 in as many innings over 23 starts, while walking just 33 and allowing 121 hits.

2080 Notes
Here is 2080’s scouting report on Zaz from last year’s Arizona Fall League.