Aaron David Kenneth Zavala (born June 23, 2000) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

in the Texas Rangers organization. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the Oregon Ducks.

Amateur career

Zavala grew up in Keizer, Oregon and attended South Salem High School, where he primarily played catcher on the baseball team. As a senior, he was named the Oregon Class 6A State Player of the Year after batting .561 with six home runs and 19 RBIs in 20 games played. Undrafted out of high school, he attended the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

to play

for the Oregon Ducks. Zavala played in 43 games with 37 starts as a freshman and batted .273 with nine doubles, 17 RBIs and 22 runs scored. Following that season he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

for the

Ridgefield Raptors The Ridgefield Raptors are a collegiate summer baseball team. The Raptors are members of the West Coast League and play their home games at the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex. History 2018 In 2018 it was announced that West Coast Leag ...

of the

West Coast League The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta. The WCL was previously named the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCB ...

. Zavala hit .418 with 22 RBIs through 15 games during sophomore season before it was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a redshirt sophomore, he was named the

Pac-12 Conference Baseball Player of the Year The Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year is a baseball award given to the Pac-12 Conference's most outstanding player. From 1978 to 1998, an award was given to the most outstanding player in both the North and South divisions, with both pitchers an ...

and was a consensus first team All-American selection after batting for a .392 average with nine home runs, 38 RBIs, 64 runs scored and 11 stolen bases.

Professional career

On July 12, 2021, Zavala was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the second round of the

2021 Major League Baseball draft The 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The ...

. He signed with Texas on August 1, for a $830,000

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

. During his routine physical before signing, Texas found a "medical anomaly," which led to his signing bonus being over a million dollars under the designated $1,952,300 slot value. Zavala split his professional debut season of 2021 between the ACL Rangers of the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League and the Down East Wood Ducks of the Low-A East, hitting a combined .293/.419/.400/.819 with 1 home run, 9 RBI, and 9 stolen bases over 22 games. Zavala opened the 2022 season with the Hickory Crawdads of the

High-A High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

, and hit .278/.424/.442/.866 with 11 home runs, 41 RBI, and 19 stolen bases over 81 games. On July 30, Zavala was promoted to the

Frisco RoughRiders The Frisco RoughRiders (often shortened to 'Riders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. They are located in Frisco, Texas, and are nam ...

of the Double-A

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

. Over 30 games for Frisco, Zavala hit .277/.410/.482/.892 with 5 home runs, 21 RBI, and 4 stolen bases. Following the season he played for the Surprise Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League. After just 5 games in the AFL, Zavala was diagnosed with a torn UCL and underwent internal brace UCL repair surgery. Zavala was assigned back to Frisco after completing rehab, and returned to game action on May 16, 2023. Zavala struggled mightily in 2023, hitting just .194/.343/.285/.627 with 5 home runs and 40 RBI, while striking out 159 times over 426 at-bats.

References

External links

Oregon Ducks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zavala, Aaron 2000 births Living people People from Keizer, Oregon Baseball players from Oregon Baseball outfielders Baseball third basemen Oregon Ducks baseball players All-American college baseball players Arizona Complex League Rangers players Down East Wood Ducks players Hickory Crawdads players Frisco RoughRiders players Surprise Saguaros players