Quantcast
Channel: CardinalsFarm » Interview
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 7

An interview with Cards prospect and St. Louisan Zach Loraine

0
0

One of the many perks of having this blog is easier access to players. Many of them follow me on Twitter and that makes it easier to contact them. That being said, all of the players that I have requested interviews with have been so gracious with their time and have allowed me to ask them questions. I usually choose players who are up and coming and who many people may not know about. While this interview fits that description, there are selfish reasons as well.

Zach Loraine grew up in a western suburb of St. Louis in St. Charles County. I am very familiar with that area as that is where I grew up as well. A dream of mine had always been to play professional baseball, and of course, for the St. Louis Cardinals. Zach Loraine had the same dream, and he is living it.

Loraine has an interesting background that consists of college and position changes which both allowed him to progress to the next level, professional baseball. He was drafted by the Cardinals in the 21st round of the 2013 draft and had a very solid rookie season with the Johnson City Cardinals. In 39 2/3 innings, Loraine struck out 47 and only allowed opponents to hit .200 against him. These impressive numbers go along with a 2.03 ERA and an over 4:1 K:BB ratio.

Let’s look beyond the numbers and see who Zach Loraine is

CardinalsFarm: Growing up in St. Louis, were you a big Cardinals fan

Zach Loraine: I have been a Cardinals fan my entire life. After all it’s the best fan base in baseball, I just so happened to get the opportunity to play for them.

 

CF: Who’s idea was it to switch from catcher to pitcher at Coker?

ZL: Funny you ask this question because it depends which year you’re referring to. There have been numerous coaches and parents that have told me I would eventually become a pitcher, but I never wanted to give up my bat. Ultimately it came down to wanting to play at the next level, which was a no brainer.

 

CF: In High School, what do you think was your best position?

ZL: As a high school I was more of a utility guy although I caught quite a bit, I played a little infield, and occasionally messed around on the mound. This kind of goes back to the last question, I loved to swing the bat so I didn’t take some of the advice I had as serious as I should have. But ultimately I think catching was my best position high-school.

 

CF: How was your first professional season? What is the main thing you learned?

ZL: My first season was a little bit of a learning experience. I think college gets you ready for all the bus rides and on the road experiences so that was not anything new to me. Pitching to the wood bat was probably the biggest thing I noticed from college to professional baseball. And also to that, you never know who is in the box. A ton of the guys I had faced in college I had an idea on how to attack them but in rookie ball, I had not seen a lot of those guys so I didn’t have any knowledge on how well they swing or what their weaknesses were. Another thing and probably the most important thing I took from my first year is to just pound the strike zone and not being afraid to challenge a guy with my best stuff.

 

CF: What teammate at Johnson City did you grow closest to?

ZL: There were a lot of new faces in JC, so to pick out one in particular is hard. I met a solid group of individuals, not just ball players, but good guys in general.

 

CF: Prior to college, did you ever cross paths with Blake McKnight, being so close to each other?

ZL: We talked about this quite a bit during the year and actually we did play against each other quite a few times in high school summer ball and also in college.

 

CF: Give us a quick scouting report on Zach Loraine. What pitches do you throw? What is your out pitch?

ZL: Fastball & slider for my first year in Johnson City but I have been working on a change-up for lefties, so next year I should have one pitch slowly working into my arsenal. My out pitch is a slider/cutter.

 

What does 2014 look like for Loraine? I think he is ready for a full-season placement due to his advanced age and also his very impressive numbers from 2013. The obvious choice is the Peoria Chiefs, but could the High-A Palm Beach Cardinals be a possibility? I think the main thing keeping him from Palm Beach is the sheer number of pitching prospects at that level. Once I start looking at full-season placements, I will have a better feel of 2014.

In my talks with Loraine, he is very eager to get Spring Training started for his first full season in the Cardinals organization. What Cardinals fans will like is that he has set high goals for himself and will be putting in the work to make sure he achieves his goals.

Follow me on Twitter @CardinalsFarm or on Facebook. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me at john@cardinalsfarm.com.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 7

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images