Josh Zeid

Joshua Alexander ("Josh") Zeid (pronounced "Zide"; born March 24, 1987) is a professional baseball pitcher for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball.^[1][2]

Zeid played for the gold-medal-winning Team USA Youth National Team in 2003. In his senior year in high school he was named Gatorade Connecticut High School Player of the Year, and Baseball America ranked him the nation's 27th-best prospect. He was drafted in the 10th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft, and in 2010 he was named a South Atlantic League midseason All-Star, and won the MiLB Best Reliever (Class A – Full Season) Award.

Zeid made his major league debut in 2013.

Personal

Zeid was born to Ira (a dentist) and Karen Zeid (who works at a senior center) in New Haven, Connecticut, and is Jewish.^[3][4][5][6] He always wears a Star of David around his neck and a chai, and as to being Jewish, he said: “If you become a successful athlete, you should let people know where you’re from.”^[7][8]

In January 2013 he married the former Stephanie Tiedemann, a doctor of neuropsychology at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, and a former Vanderbilt (2007) and Florida Institute of Technology (Masters/Doctor of Psychology) student.^[9][10][11]

High school and college

Zeid was a pitcher for the Hornets at Hamden Hall Country Day School (2005), where he set the school record of 400 strikeouts.^[7][11] In addition to pitching, he played first base, shortstop, and center field.^[1] He played for the gold-medal-winning Team USA Youth National Team in 2003, and was an AFLAC All American in 2004.^[6]

In his junior and senior years he led his high school team to two straight New England Championships, and a record of 54–15.^[7][1] In his junior year in 2004, he struck out 68 batters in 42 innings and had a 1.66 ERA, while batting .412.^[12] In his senior year, he struck out 130 batters in 65.0 innings and batted .450, and was team captain.^[7][6][1] That year, he was the Gatorade Connecticut High School Player of the Year, Baseball America ranked him the country's 27th-best prospect, and he was a Louisville Slugger, National High School Baseball Coaches Association, Collegiate Baseball, and Street & Smith All American.^[7][6][1]

He played summer ball for the Long Island Titans, helping lead them to a 43–5 record.^[6] He also earned two varsity letters in basketball.^[6]

He played college baseball, pitching for the Vanderbilt Commodores baseball team for two years, and then for Tulane University, where he pitched for the Green Wave baseball team and was an English major.^[7][13] He also pitched for the Torrington Twisters of the New England Collegiate Baseball League over the summer of 2006, and for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Collegiate Baseball League in 2007.^[6][1]

Minor leagues

In 2009, the Philadelphia Phillies drafted him in the 10th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft out of Tulane.^[7] Zeid received a $10,000 signing bonus.^[14] He pitched as a starter for the Class A Williamsport Crosscutters, and had an 8–5 record with a 2.94 ERA, holding batters to a .217 average.^[13]

In 2010, he was named a South Atlantic League midseason All-Star, and won the MiLB Best Reliever (Class A – Full Season) award, after pitching for the Lakewood BlueClaws and splitting his season between starting and relieving, and finishing the season 8–4 with 8 saves, a 2.93 ERA, 111 strikeouts in 107.3 innings, and 27 walks.^[13][15][16] In the off-season he played for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League where he was named an AFL Rising Star, blogging about his experience for MLB.com.^[15][13] Zeid has said that he wants to compose stories about growing up as a Jewish baseball player in New England.^[7]

He advanced as high as Double-A Reading in 2011, starting the season in its starting rotation before moving to the bullpen, before being traded on July 29, 2011, along with Jonathan Singleton, Jarred Cosart, and Domingo Santana to the Houston Astros for Hunter Pence.^{[17][18][7][13]} After the season, he pitched for the Salt River Rafters in the Arizona Fall League, where he was named an AFL Rising Star.^[13]

Going into 2012, he was ranked #19 in the Astros system by baseball writer Jonathan Mayo, for his "plus fastball" and "nasty slider."^[2] In 2012, he pitched as a reliever for an entire season for the first time, pitching in 47 games for the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks, and striking out 66 batters in 56.1 innings.^[13]

In March 2013, Zeid was looking to add a third pitch to his fastball and slider – either a change-up or splitter, or a combination of both.^[5] In 2013, he threw a 95–97 mph fastball, and a hard slider.^[10] Only the top 15 percent of major league pitchers throw a 95 mph fastball.^[19] He pitched as the closer for the AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks in 2013, with a 4–1 record, 13 saves, and 3.50 ERA over 43 games, as he struck out 53 batters in 43.2 innings.^[10][20]

Major leagues

Zeid was called up to the majors for the first time on July 29, 2013.^[21]

Team Israel

Zeid played for the Israeli national baseball team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic qualifier in September 2012, under manager Brad Ausmus.^[22][23][24] He pitched in all 3 games, earning a save in Israel’s victory over Spain.^[25] His mother said: "As we watched the games ... we loved ... the nachas and kvelling that goes deep into our hearts."^[25]

See also

• List of select Jewish Major League Baseball players

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Josh Zeid on Twitter
• Tulane Green Wave bio
• Vanderbilt Commodores bio