Going East: From Cheyenne to Syracuse

Image courtesy of Syracuse Chiefs

By Mason Walling – Syracuse Chiefs infielder Zach Walters can hit from either side of the plate; evidently, he can also play baseball on either side of the country.

           He proved this again on Tuesday night against the RailRiders of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, by coming up big when the Chiefs needed him.

With a full count and his team down by one in the bottom of the fourth, Walters smashed a single straight up the middle to advance Corey Brown from first to third.  Jhonatan Solano followed that up with a single of his own, scoring Brown and tying the game at two apiece.  With two men on, second baseman Josh Johnson doubled to bring Walters home for the go ahead and eventual game winning run.

            Earlier Tuesday evening, the Chiefs completed a game against the RailRiders that was suspended on July 12.  Walters did not participate in the continuation because he was ejected from the original meeting for arguing with the umpire after he struck out looking in the top of the third inning.  The resumed contest lasted just two innings, as Alberto Gonzalez drove in the game winning run for the RailRiders in the bottom of the thirteenth.

            In the last three years Walters has done quite a bit of travelling, including a big jump from the West coast to the East coast.

Walters was born and raised on an air force base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  He lived in Montana for several years of his adolescence before his family made the decision to move to Las Vegas, Nevada, so that he could seriously pursue baseball in high school.  Upon graduation, Walters was offered a full scholarship to the University of San Diego, where he played for three years.

Walters decided to forego his senior year of college when he was selected in the ninth round of the First-Year Player Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks.  He went to play for the Yakima Bears, a short-season class A affiliate of the Diamondbacks located in Yakima, Washington.  Walters led the 2010 Yakima Bears with a .302 batting average.

The following year saw the most drastic moves for Walters.  He first landed in Indiana, playing ball for the South Bend Silver Hawks.  On July 30^th, 2011, Walters was acquired by the Washington Nationals from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Jason Marquis. 

He started off in his new organization by playing for the Potomac Nationals, a single-A affiliate in Woodbridge, Virginia.  After proving himself, Walters spent a large part of the 2012 season with the Harrisburg Senators, the double-A club in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

He became a member of the Syracuse Chiefs in the latter half of 2012, and says he enjoys the food and the people of Syracuse, just not the humidity.  “It’s different, it’s a new look,” Walters said, “I like the east coast, heart’s still in California though.”

Walters has still yet to play a game in the Major Leagues, but the Syracuse Chiefs have taken him as close as he has ever been on the minor league circuit.  “Right now I’m just hanging out in Syracuse, I feel like it’s a world away to me,” Walters said when asked about his future MLB aspirations.

Despite the Chiefs' less than stellar performance this season, the 23-year-old has stumbled upon some success in Syracuse.  Walters was selected as the International League Player of the Week twice in 2013, the first Syracuse Chief receive this honor twice in a single season since pitcher Brandon Lyon in 2001.

Image courtesy of Syracuse Chiefs

Click here for Zach Walter's full Post-Game Interview via SoundCloud