St. Joe’s graduate Donovan Zsak begins pro baseball career with Cleveland Guardians

It was the type of adversity that would have derailed most baseball players’ aspirations. But for Donovan Zsak, it was a setback that simply showed him another way to pursue his boyhood dream.
 
After overcoming two Tommy John surgeries while at St. Joe’s of Metuchen and then pitching this spring at Rutgers, Zsak was picked in the eighth round of the MLB Draft by the Cleveland Guardians on July 15, setting him on a path to one day be playing in the major leagues.
 
“It’s been my goal forever,” Zsak said. “I’ve definitely had some hiccups along the way, but I think the bad times make the good times taste a little better. Without the struggles, you wouldn’t really necessarily be able to embrace the great times.”
 
Zsak, a Scotch Plains native, has long had a natural gift for hurling a baseball with high velocity. He molded talent with hard work when his father introduced him to the sport at six years old, and by the time he enrolled at St. Joe’s as a lanky high school freshman, Zsak was already throwing 85 miles per hour. But then the southpaw felt arm discomfort during the summer of 2020 after his sophomore season. It turned out he needed elbow surgery, but upon recovering from that, he faced a second UCL injury after his senior season and required surgery again.
 
“I always had pretty solid mechanics, always was able to really drive and drop into my legs and maximize my velocity,” the 6-foot-3 Zsak said. “Honestly, the injuries were a blessing in disguise because it allowed me to mature and get stronger physically so I could support my body and support the high velocity I was throwing at. Even now, too, I’m just trying to gain weight, gain size, but good strength of course, to support my body so I can throw hard and stay healthy.”
 
Zsak bulked up from about 145 pounds as a freshman to 180 as a senior, and then to 200 while redshirting as a freshman at Rutgers in 2023. He focused on consuming a healthy variety of whole foods, and in the weight room, he emphasized form over power with upper-body lifting once he was cleared for all exercises four months after each surgery.
 
St. Joe’s baseball coach Mike Murray Jr. remembers a player who was not only dedicated in those aspects despite the unfortunate circumstances, but also wanted to be there for his teammates even when he couldn’t pitch.
 
Murray jokes that Zsak was the most high-profile courtesy runner in New Jersey during his junior season. Zsak relished that role even though he committed to the University of Virginia before ever throwing a pitch for St. Joe’s.

“There’d be guys that get that injury and don’t care about what their teammates are doing or anything like that,” Murray said. “That was important to see. This is a talented guy that could’ve put his head down and been sad he was hurt, and instead wanted to be part of our team and help his teammates. So he was very well-liked by his teammates. Really good personality; he’s funny.”
 
Murray credits Zsak and 2020 graduate Adam Boucher, who is now pitching in the Tampa Bay Rays’ minor leagues, for turning St. Joe’s into a school where boys want to enroll and play baseball.
 
Zsak calls Murray “the best coach I’ve ever had in my life so far,” and he made lifelong friends with players who pushed each other to work harder.
 
“Just being around a team, being around guys just made me feel awesome, made me feel part of it,” Zsak said of his mindset while rehabbing from the surgeries. “That’s what really motivated me to keep going, keep working hard was seeing all my buddies doing it whether it was at St. Joe’s or Rutgers, and then I just wanted to be in that position and playing again.”
 
Still, it wasn’t always easy. Virginia pulled Zsak’s scholarship after the second Tommy John. He reached out to Rutgers a week later, and Zsak was fortunate that the Scarlet Knights gave him an opportunity to walk on to their program, in part because he was local and one of the coaches had previously been at Virginia.
 
Zsak also leaned on the daily wisdom of his father, who had two shoulder surgeries during his own playing career.
 
“I definitely was a little bit in shock,” Zsak said. “Life kind of hit me, but I always knew it was gonna work out. I had this strange feeling that it was always gonna work out, so I just kept going and kept showing up every day, and it did work out in the end.”

Zsak took 10 months off from throwing after the second surgery and focused on strengthening his entire body from head to toe. The Rutgers strength coaches helped him get full range of motion back into his elbow to throw healthy and harder than ever.
 
As primarily a relief pitcher with the Scarlet Knights, Zsak typically sat between 95-98 mph with his four-seam fastball while also wielding a curveball and a changeup. He boosted his pro stock in the Cape Cod League this summer before talking to a dozen MLB teams who showed interest in drafting him.
 
Soon after the Guardians made the pick, Zsak headed to the organization’s development facility in Arizona for three weeks before being assigned to the Lynchburg Hillcats, the Guardians’ Low-A affiliate in Virginia. Zsak made his pro debut on Aug. 10 in North Carolina and pitched 1 1/3 innings out of the bullpen.
 
“If he stays healthy, he’ll be a big leaguer,” Murray said. “I have no doubt about it. He’s lefty, he’s tall, he’s athletic, he throws hard, he’s competitive. He’ll work well in the organization. I think Cleveland is a good spot for him to go, so I’m just thrilled for him and his family.”
 
Believing that his body is now in a place where the elbow issues are behind him, Zsak strives to have a prosperous pro career. He looks up to lefty Cole Ragans, an MLB All-Star this year who also overcame two Tommy John surgeries, as proof that what seems impossible can be achieved.
 
“Right now obviously I’m in Single-A, so I’ve got to work my way up to Double-A and Triple-A, but hopefully within three, four years maybe I’m in MLB,” Zsak said. “That’s the goal.”