Zack Greinke

Donald Zackary "Zack" Greinke (pronounced GRIN-kee; born October 21, 1983 in Orlando, Florida) is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Kansas City Royals. Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award in 2009.

After being named the Gatorade National Player of the Year in 2002, he was selected out of Apopka High School (and turning down a scholarship to Clemson) in the first round of the 2002 draft, he spent the winter of 2002-03 in the Puerto Rican League. Afterwards, he played for the Wilmington Blue Rocks and Wichita Wranglers, where he was named the Royals Minor League Pitcher of the Year, and The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year, with a 15-4 record and 1.93 ERA.

Greinke made his major-league debut on May 22, 2004 against the Oakland Athletics, starting the game in which Reggie Jackson's number was retired by the A's.

He ended the 2004 season with a record of 8 wins and 11 losses (second most wins on the team, after Jimmy Gobble) and a 3.97 ERA. Greinke's 2005 season, however, was not as successful, as he went 5-17 with a 5.80 ERA.

Pitching in the American League, Greinke rarely batted due to the designated hitter rule. Greinke's first major league hit was a home run off Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Russ Ortiz in a 12-11 loss on June 10, 2005.

Greinke left the Royals spring training camp for personal reasons in late February 2006. It was later revealed that he was suffering from social anxiety disorder and depression. He reported back to the Royals' spring training facility in Surprise, Arizona, on April 17, where he underwent ongoing pitching sessions. He was placed on the 60-day disabled list due to psychological issues and took time away from baseball entirely until returning on a rehab assignment with Wichita.

In 2007, he returned to the Royals rotation at the start of the season, but was sent to the bullpen in early May after alternating good starts with bad ones and compiling a 1-4 record with a 5.71 ERA. As a reliever, he was very effective, going 4-1 with a 3.54 ERA. After the 2007 season he signed a one year contract to stay in Kansas City and to avoid arbitration.

Greinke's 2008 saw him return to the rotation and put up a good year, starting in 32 games with a record of 13 wins and 10. His 3.47 ERA was the best by a full-time Royals starter in 11 years.

On January 26, 2009, Greinke agreed to a four-year contract with the Royals worth $38 million.

Greinke started off his 2009 season by not allowing a run in his first 24 innings. Greinke's 2008 ended with 14 scoreless innings, which meant that for 38 innings in a row, he hadn't given up a run.

On April 24, Greinke pitched his second complete game in a row, winning 6-1 over the Detroit Tigers after having pitched a complete game shutout against the Texas Rangers in his previous start. Over those two starts, Greinke pitched 18 innings, allowed one unearned run and collected 20 K's. This streak was broken on April 29, 2009 as the Blue Jays scored 1 earned run in the first inning on a single hit by second baseman Aaron Hill. However, Greinke was beginning to attract national attention for his play, appearing on the cover of the May 4, 2009 cover of Sports Illustrated. This made him the first Royals player to appear on the cover of this magazine during the season since David Cone did in 1993. On July 5, 2009, Greinke was selected to represent Kansas City in the 2009 All Star game where he pitched a hitless 4th inning with 2 strikeouts.

On August 25, 2009, Greinke struck out 15 batters, breaking Mark Gubicza's record for strikeouts in a single game for the Kansas City Royals.

On August 30, 2009, Greinke had a one-hit complete game against the Seattle Mariners. He joined an exclusive club of four players (including himself) who followed up a 15+ strikeout game with a one-hitter: Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, and Vida Blue.

On September 24th 2009 Greinke was ejected from the bench for heckling home plate umpire Greg Gibson. Gibson would later issue warnings to both benches after Royals' starting pitcher Anthony Lerew threw a curveball near Mike Lowell's head. Gibson ejected Royals' manager Trey Hillman for arguing about the warning.

His record for the 2009 season was 16-8, and he posted an ERA of 2.16, the lowest in MLB. On October 21st, 2009 Greinke was named American League Pitcher of the Year from The Sporting News, his first award for overall regular season performance. On October 28, 2009 Zack was awarded the MLBPA Players Choice AL Pitcher of the Year winner which was announced during Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio. This award was based on vote by major league baseball players.

On November 17, 2009, Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award.

Greinke is engaged to Miss Daytona Beach USA 2008 Emily Kuchar. Greinke met Kuchar in high school at Apopka High School, Kuchar is a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.