Kevin Matthew Ziomek (born March 21, 1992) is a former American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the Detroit Tigers organization.

Career

Amateur

Ziomek attended Amherst Regional High School in Amherst, Massachusetts. As a senior, he was the Massachusetts

Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' cross country, boys' football, boys' ...

. Ziomek was drafted by the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

in the 13th round of the

2010 Major League Baseball Draft The 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held on June 7–9, 2010 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. First-round selections The draft order was determined based on the 2009 MLB standings, with the worst team pi ...

, but did not sign and attended

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

to play

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 p ...

. He played at Vanderbilt for the

Commodores Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in ...

from 2011 to 2013. During his three years he appeared in 63 games with 38 starts. He went 19–9 with a 3.04

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) and 241

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

in 243 innings. After the 2011 and 2012 seasons, he played collegiate summer baseball with the

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the lea ...

of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Professional

Ziomek was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the second round of the

2013 Major League Baseball Draft The 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in ...

. He signed with the Tigers rather than return to Vanderbilt for his senior season. Ziomek made his professional debut that season with the

Connecticut Tigers The Norwich Sea Unicorns are a baseball team located in Norwich, Connecticut. From 2010 to 2020, they were members of Minor League Baseball's New York–Penn League (NYPL) as the Class A Short Season affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They play th ...

. He started four games, going 0–1 with a 4.50 ERA. Ziomek played the 2014 season with the

West Michigan Whitecaps The West Michigan Whitecaps are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Comstock Park, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids, and play their home games at LMCU Ballpa ...

. He started 23 games, going 10–6 with a 2.27 ERA and 152 strikeouts in 123 innings. On September 17, 2015, Ziomek was named the Detroit Tigers' Pitching Prospect of the Year b
MLB Pipeline
Ziomek played the 2015 season with the

Lakeland Flying Tigers The Lakeland Flying Tigers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Lakeland, Florida, and play their home games at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. H ...

, where he posted a 9–11 record, with a 3.43 ERA over 27 starts and innings, including two complete games. He allowed just three home runs all season to go with 34 walks and 143 strikeouts. Ziomek retired from baseball prior to the start of the 2017 season. He sat out almost the entire 2016 season after undergoing arm surgery in 2016. Following surgery, he failed to regain the speed on his fastball he had prior forcing him to retire.

References

External links

Vanderbilt Commodores bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ziomek, Kevin 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Amherst, Massachusetts Baseball players from Massachusetts Baseball pitchers Connecticut Tigers players Lakeland Flying Tigers players Vanderbilt Commodores baseball players Cotuit Kettleers players West Michigan Whitecaps players Amherst Regional High School (Massachusetts) alumni