Chattanooga paper has an article on Zach Maxwell:
Chattanooga Lookouts pitcher Zach Maxwell brings elite heat
Patrick MacCoon
Chattanooga Times
The season is only a month old, but Zach Maxwell might very well be considered the breakout player of the year among minor leaguers in the Cincinnati Reds organization.
However, there's at least one label the right-hander has had plenty of time to live up to: intimidating.
"It's important to have confidence out there on the mound and know that you have good stuff and can get the job done," he said. "I go out there every time and trust myself. I come to the park every day and put on my uniform and get after it. I will not back down from anyone."
While hitters are accustomed to seeing high velocity from pitchers these days in the professional ranks, Maxwell is in the upper tier of both speed and size. The 6-foot-6, 275-pound flamethrower has touched 101 mph on the radar gun with his rising fastball quite frequently this season for the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts.
The pitch has also been recorded with 20 inches of induced vertical break, which Baseball America considers elite.
"My velocity comes pretty natural," said Maxwell, who started the season ranked No. 27 among Reds prospects by MLB.com. "I have always been a bigger guy than everybody else and have always thrown harder. I enjoy throwing hard. It's fun. A lot of it comes from diligent work in the weight room and training.
"However, I always remind myself you don't have to throw it 1,000 miles per hour. I just have to stay through the ball and through the catcher, and my pitches work out a whole lot better."
Chattanooga and AT&T Field aren't exactly new to the 23-year-old Maxwell, who was born in Murfreesboro and came to several Lookouts games with his family before they moved to the Atlanta area.
(While there, Maxwell played summer ball one year with Michael Harris II — they're less than six weeks apart in age — who went from Stockbridge High School star to third-round pick of the 2019 Major League Baseball draft, made his MLB debut for his hometown Atlanta Braves in May 2022 and has held down center field for the team ever since.)
And now Maxwell is back in the Scenic City and imposing his will on hitters in the Southern League, proving nearly untouchable in April as a star reliever for the Lookouts.
Through May 1, he had allowed two hits, four walks and no earned runs in 9 1/3 innings and his first eight appearances. In that same stretch, Maxwell particularly baffled left-handed hitters, who struck out 19 times as he mixed in a 90 mph slider with his supreme heater.
It may seem like a hot start, but Maxwell is simply picking up right where he left off in the prestigious Arizona Fall League, where he was one of the brightest stars last year with 22 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings while posting a 2.19 ERA.
He is one of only seven minor leaguers this season whose fastball averages above 96 mph with more than 18 inches of induced vertical break, with Maxwell joined in that group by fellow Reds prospect Anyer Laureano, a 2021 draft pick who's currently with the Single-A Daytona Tortugas. The others are Cleveland Guardians prospects Anthony Gose and Andrew Walters, Prelander Berroa (Chicago White Sox), Bubba Chandler (Pittsburgh Pirates) and Jackson Jobe (Detroit Tigers).
Maxwell struck out the side in three of his first eight appearances out of the bullpen for Chattanooga while also showing more control than ever. He entered this season averaging six-plus walks per nine innings but lowered that number to 3.9 over the first month, when he also generated 30 swinging strikes while throwing 66% of his pitches for strikes.
"I am definitely getting more strikeouts with my heater right now," Maxwell said. "I grew up watching (Justin) Verlander and (Max) Scherzer and loved watching their prowess on the mound and how they dominated the game. Gerritt Cole, too. Those guys are electric.
"I also loved watching Craig Kimbrel close in Atlanta. Being at games when he would come in was so much fun."
Like his former summer ball teammate Harris, Maxwell was drafted in 2019, but with the New York Yankees selecting him in the later rounds, the North Paulding High School standout elected to follow through with his college plans and played for Georgia Tech. After three seasons with the Yellow Jackets, he was drafted again, this time in the sixth round by the Reds.
In college, he roomed with Jack Friedman, the son of Rob Friedman, who is a social media sensation on X, where he runs the PitchingNinja account that has more than a half-million followers.
Maxwell has plenty of Pitching Ninja gear, including several Reds-themed T-shirts, but it's the real-deal Cincinnati jersey he hopes to wear eventually.
"You think about the call-up (to the majors) all the time in the back of your mind," Maxwell said. "Getting an invite to the big league spring training this year was a great experience to be around all of those guys. If they call me and say it's go time, I will be ready to go. But until then, I am going to compete wherever we go."
The Lookouts are set to wrap up a road series with the Montgomery Biscuits on Sunday before Monday's regularly scheduled day off for the Southern League. Tuesday evening is the planned start to a seven-game homestand against the Tennessee Smokies, including a Wednesday doubleheader with an 11:15 a.m. first pitch, "Stars Wars Night" on Thursday, fireworks on Friday and "Princess Knight" on Saturday.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at
[email protected].
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