Zachary Thomas Duke (born April 19, 1983) is an American former 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 tea ...

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 ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

, Arizona Diamondbacks,

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

, St. Louis Cardinals,

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

, and

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

Playing career

Pittsburgh Pirates

Duke was drafted directly out of Midway High School in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the ...

, in the 20th round of the 2001 draft, and began his career the following year with the Pirates' rookie level Gulf Coast League team. He spent 2003 with the low-A Hickory Crawdads. In 2004, Duke led all

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

pitchers with a 1.46

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 ...

(24 earned runs in 148.1

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

). He posted a 15–6 record in 26 combined starts between Class-A Lynchburg and Double-A Altoona, and his 15 wins tied for third-most among all minor league pitchers. Following the 2004 season, Duke was named Pittsburgh's Minor League Pitcher-of-the-Year and earned

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

Pitcher-of-the-Year honors. He was selected by ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'' as the sixth-best prospect in the Eastern League, and the best pitching prospect (fourth-best prospect overall) in the Carolina League. He was also recognized by the publication as having the best

breaking pitch In baseball, a breaking ball is a pitch (baseball), pitch that does not travel straight as it approaches the Batter (baseball), batter; it will have sideways or downward motion on it, sometimes both (see Slider (baseball), slider). A breaking b ...

in the league. Duke made his major league debut on July 2, 2005, against the

, striking out nine and receiving a no-decision in the Pirates 5–3 loss. His nine strikeouts were the most by a Pirate making his MLB debut since

Tim Wakefield Timothy Stephen Wakefield (born August 2, 1966) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Wakefield began his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but is most remembered for his 17-yea ...

on July 31, 1992. Duke's debut month in July 2005 included a 3–0 shutout victory against

Greg Maddux Gregory Alan Maddux (born April 14, 1966) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for four teams. Maddux is best known for his accomplishments while playing for the Atlanta Braves ...

and the Cubs on July 16 and 22 consecutive scoreless innings from July 2 to 21. He was named National League Rookie of the month for July while compiling a 0.87

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

, the best among all starting pitchers in the Major Leagues. He became only the second Pittsburgh rookie to win his first 5 decisions, along with

Whitey Glazner Charles Franklin "Whitey" Glazner (September 17, 1893 – June 6, 1989) was a professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher over parts of five seasons (1920–24) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Philadelphia Phillies. For his c ...

. He also became one of only four pitchers during the

Live-ball era The live-ball era, also referred to as the lively ball era, is the period in Major League Baseball beginning in (and continuing to the present day), contrasting with the pre-1920 period known as the "dead-ball era". The name "live-ball era" comes ...

to record an ERA below 1.00 in their first six starts (the others being Fernando Valenzuela,

Boo Ferriss David Meadow Ferriss (December 5, 1921 – November 24, 2016) was an American Major League Baseball player who pitcher, pitched for the Boston Red Sox from 1945 through 1950. Ferriss was given the nickname 'Boo' as the result of a childhood inabil ...

, and Steve Rogers). Duke finished 2005 with an 8–2 record in 14 starts, striking out 58 in 84.2 innings. He finished in fifth place in the Rookie of the Year voting, garnering 10% of the vote. Duke's first full season with the Pirates in 2006 was as the new team ace, anchoring a very young rotation with

Ian Snell Ian Dante Snell (born October 30, 1981) is an American former professional baseball right-handed pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Seattle Mariners. From 2001 to 2003, he went by the name Ian Oquendo ...

. Duke had a number of good starts in the first half of the season, but many of them were undone by the Pirates' weak bullpen and lack of run support for Duke. The second half of 2006 was a re-emergence of the Duke who had dazzled Pittsburgh with his stuff from the previous year, and, on a side note, it was the first time the Pirates had compiled a winning record for a half of a season since 1992. Duke recorded 2 complete game efforts, the only 2 that Pittsburgh had all season. His first was a shutout of the Chicago Cubs on May 2, but he only had 2 strikeouts and a walk. His better effort was on August 11 against the St. Louis Cardinals. While he scattered 8 hits, Duke only allowed 1 run (it was earned), recorded no walks and 7 strikeouts. Duke also threw 11 fewer pitches than his previous complete game effort, and recorded 14 ground-ball outs. Duke's final line for the 2006 season was 10–15 with a 4.47 ERA and 117 strikeouts against 68 walks. During the 2006 season he led the National League in hits allowed, with 255, and his 15 losses were third-most in the league. Duke also became the first Pirates starter since

Kris Benson Kristin James Benson (born November 7, 1974) is a former Major League Baseball starting pitcher who played for several teams between 1999 and 2010. A highly touted prospect, Benson was drafted first overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1996. H ...

in 2000 to throw more than 200 innings, with innings pitched. In 2007 he was 3–8 with an ERA of 5.53. In 2008, he was 5–14 with an ERA of 4.82 and he gave up more doubles than any other pitcher in the majors, with 58, and more sacrifice hits, with 14. He gave up 230 hits, second-most in the National League, and his 14 losses were 4th-most in the league. Duke was named to the

2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game The 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 80th midseason exhibition between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 14, 2009 ...

, replacing the injured

Matt Cain Matthew Thomas Cain (born October 1, 1984), nicknamed "The Horse", "Big Daddy", "Big Sugar" and "Cainer", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the San Francisco Giants ...

. He finished off 2009 with an 11–16 record, a 4.06 ERA, 3 complete games (3rd-most in the league), 1 shutout, 23 home runs given up, only 3 hit batsmen, 231 hits (2nd-most in the league), 49 walks, 106 strikeouts, a .285 average against, 1.31 walks and hits per innings pitched, and 213 innings pitched. His 16 losses in 2009 led the National League. In 2010, he was 8–15 with a 5.72 ERA, and a .321 batting average against. His 15 losses in 2010 were second in the National League.

Arizona Diamondbacks

On November 24, 2010, the

traded Duke to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a player to be named later, determined to be

César Valdez César Miguel Valdez (born March 17, 1985) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher in the Los Angeles Angels organization. He made his Major League Baseball debut in 2010 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He has also previously played in MLB ...

. On May 28, 2011, Duke was activated off the disabled list and made his first start with the Arizona Diamondbacks, replacing

Micah Owings Micah Burton Owings (born September 28, 1982) is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres between 2007 and 2012. During his car ...

in the rotation. He also hit his first major league home run that day, a three-run home run off of Bud Norris. Duke made 9 starts in the rotation, going 2–4 with a 5.47 ERA, and opponents hitting .336/.368/.481 off of him. On July 15, Duke was relocated to the bullpen, where he fared slightly better in a long-relief role, recording a 3.86 ERA in 25.2 innings, only striking out 6 while walking 8. Overall in 2011, Duke was 3–4 with a 4.91 ERA in 21 appearances. On October 31, 2011, he elected to become a free agent.

Houston Astros

Duke signed a minor league contract with the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

on January 27, 2012. He also received an invitation to spring training; however, he was released on March 27.

Washington Nationals

Duke signed a minor league contract with the

on March 29, 2012 playing for the

's AAA affiliate, the Syracuse Chiefs. He was called up the majors on September 3 and appeared in 8 games, pitching 13.2 innings with a 1.32 ERA. On December 2, 2012, Duke resigned with the Nationals on a one-year deal to serve as the team's long reliever. He was designated for assignment on June 4, 2013, after posting an 8.71 ERA for the team in innings. On June 10, 2013, Duke was released by Washington.

Cincinnati Reds

Duke signed a minor league contract with the

on June 13, 2013. He eventually was promoted to the big league club and recorded an 0.84 ERA in innings.

Milwaukee Brewers

Duke was signed as a free agent on January 15, 2014, and invited to spring training by the

for 2014 and made the roster as a left-handed relief specialist. He recorded his first win of 2014 on April 20 against the

. Duke had emerged as a key member of the Brewers' bullpen, finding success against lefties and righties. As of July 21, his ERA was a minuscule 1.16, and he had struck out 49 batters in innings pitched. He finished the year strong, recording a 2.45 ERA with 74 strikeouts to only 17 walks in 58.2 innings, appearing in 74 games and notching 12 holds. He limited left-handed hitters to a .198 batting average. He became a free agent on October 30, 2014.

Chicago White Sox

Duke signed a three-year, $15 million contract with the

on November 18, 2014.

St. Louis Cardinals

On July 21, 2016, the White Sox traded Duke to the St. Louis Cardinals for outfielder

Charlie Tilson Charles Everett Tilson (born December 2, 1992) is an American professional baseball center fielder for the Chicago Dogs of the American Association of Professional Baseball. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox. ...

. On October 14, 2016, it was revealed that Duke underwent surgery to repair a forearm

flexor muscle Motion, the process of movement, is described using specific anatomical terms. Motion includes movement of organs, joints, limbs, and specific sections of the body. The terminology used describes this motion according to its direction relative ...

and UCL in his left arm, which was expected to sideline him for the entire 2017 season. However, on July 21, 2017, Duke completed a rehab assignment and returned to the Cardinals' active roster, making his first appearance since the surgery on July 21.

Minnesota Twins

Duke signed a one-year deal with the

on December 26, 2017. In 45 appearances, Duke was 3-4 in innings.

Seattle Mariners

On July 30, 2018, Duke was traded to the

for pitcher

Chase De Jong Chase Louis De Jong (born December 29, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). De Jong was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2nd round of the 2012 Major League Baseball dr ...

and infielder Ryan Costello. Duke struggled after being acquired by Seattle, finishing with a 5.52 ERA in 27 appearances.

Return to the Reds

On February 11, 2019, Duke returned to the Reds on a one-year, $2 million deal. On July 1, the Reds designated Duke for assignment. He was released on July 6, 2019.

Personal life

Duke was born in Clifton, Texas. He married Kristin Gross in Evansville,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, in November 2007. They met when she was an emcee for the

Indianapolis Indians The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory Field, which open ...

. His best man was former Pirates closer

Matt Capps Matthew Dicus Capps (born September 3, 1983) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He is a 2002 graduate of Alexander High School in Douglasville, Georgia, where he lettered in football, basketball, cross-country and basebal ...

. Duke and his wife reside in

Gallatin, Tennessee Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee. The population was 30,278 at the 2010 census and 44,431 at the 2020 census. Named for United States Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin, the city was established on ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duke, Zach 1983 births Living people Major League Baseball pitchers People from Clifton, Texas Baseball players from Texas Pittsburgh Pirates players Arizona Diamondbacks players Washington Nationals players Cincinnati Reds players Milwaukee Brewers players Chicago White Sox players St. Louis Cardinals players Minnesota Twins players Seattle Mariners players Gulf Coast Pirates players Hickory Crawdads players Lynchburg Hillcats players Altoona Curve players Indianapolis Indians players State College Spikes players Visalia Rawhide players Reno Aces players Syracuse Chiefs players Louisville Bats players