“My earliest memories of baseball are playing coach pitch with my Angels and we had a really good team. 3 or 4 of the guys from that team are playing baseball and 2 of them are still playing college baseball, which is sweet.” This was how our interviewed started with the Padres third round pick in the 2014 draft from Rice University, Zech Lemond.
He grew up in Houston and played 2B and was a fan of Astros 2B Craig Biggio. “He was a workhorse and did everything, even getting hit by pitches.” Zech even got the chance to see his hero up close on the field, “we played against his team in high school, because he coached for St. Thomas High School and we got to play him a couple of times, which was fun.” Now that Zech is a pitcher, we asked him about what pitchers he looks at and admires; “I like all the studs like Clayton Kershaw, Madison Bumgarner, and Felix Hernandez‘” but he tries not to focus on other pitchers but instead, concentrate on what he needs to do to succeed.
Zech began his career pitching for Short Season Eugene after being drafted by San Diego in the third round of the 2014 and was even called up to pitch one game for AA San Antonio. He had an overall record of 2-3 with a 3.43 ERA striking out 36 and walking only 5 batters in 42 innings. Since this was Zech’s first Major League Spring Training, we asked his what thought of it. He told us he “had a great time on Spring Training.” It was “Long days, tiresome days, but other than that, it’s a lot of fun.” His favorite memory from camp was The Prospect Game. “It was supposedly the first time they had it and I got to start in it, which was really cool.” His goal this season is to work on “the command of all my pitches” and he will spend the season work on that goal.
Zech hasn’t has too much of an opportunity to get around the town of Lake Elsinore but as the season goes along, he will. We also know the wonderful fans of Lake Elsinore will be there to show him some hometown hospitality and love. Here at Padres360, we plan to keep an eye on Zech and will travel up to see him pitch a game for the Storm.
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