Man With a Plan: The Zach Maxey Story

"You could ask every pitcher on our team: 'Who is the most process-oriented player on our team?' And it's Zach Maxey.

"He's not lucking into any of this stuff. This isn't written in the stars for him; it's something he works for every day. As much as anybody can be, he is a manufactured, really good college baseball player." – Miami University head coach Danny Hayden

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Zach Maxey has heard all of the jokes before.

When he arrives at McKie Field at Hayden Park and dumps out his bag of gadgets to begin his warmup routine, the junior pitcher knows what's coming.

If he grabs what look like bowling pins and starts swinging them in the air to help with shoulder stability, a wisecrack about being an 'air traffic controller' is sure to follow. When he pulls out his toe spacers to assist with foot alignment? "People are thinking I'm getting ready to paint my nails," Maxey chuckled.

There's a long pipe, stretching bands galore, and the list goes on. Each piece of equipment in a never-ending supply that Maxey might pull out of his bag, Mary Poppins-style, is just another part of the Avon, Ohio native's plan for being the best player he can be.

And after earning All-MAC honors as a sophomore, it seems like Maxey's routine is working. Zach Maxey

"It might look a little bit funny to someone that just shows up at the yard without an understanding of what he's doing, but it's very biomechanically driven," said Miami pitching coach Jeff Opalewski.

Maxey dealt with a variety of injuries during his career at St. Edward High School that limited his opportunities to get on the mound and started him down the road of finding a process that would allow him to pitch consistently. "There came a point where it was like, 'Are you going to just keep letting this happen to you? Are you just going to keep getting injured?'" Maxey recalled.

"Because there were some controllable aspects to that: The arm injuries, the back injuries. I knew I had to make a change and put in some extra work just to stay healthy…

"At first I wasn't willing to do all that stuff, but now I am."

Maxey developed his collection of exercises and training techniques with help from his father, Tim, who serves as Joint Strength and Conditioning Coordinator for Major League Baseball and its players association after previous roles with the Kansas City and Cleveland franchises.

"That's the world that Zach comes from: The absolute elite training," Opalewski said. "He's seen the attention to detail that those guys pay, and that's the way he's modeled his process…Zach is somebody that has utilized a lot of resources to try and figure out what his physical limitations are and what we can do to attack them."

"Over the years I've been hurt and done all that rehab, I have a library of exercises in my head," Maxey said. "I've had a lot of time to experiment and try new things, so I have a huge spreadsheet of what I do day by day…

"Why not do all that you can to be prepared and confident going into the game? Whether that's nutrition, sleep, mechanics, pitch design, knowing how your pitches are moving, knowing how your body's feeling, lifting, mobility work – it's just going into the game knowing that I've done everything possible to where I'm ready to compete."

The rituals Maxey has fine-tuned over the years stood out to his RedHawks teammates from day one in Oxford.

"You don't find guys that are this disciplined, this structured, and this organized very often, especially 18-year-olds," Hayden said. "So when you bring in Zach [in 2020] as an 18-year-old freshman, he's making people uncomfortable with his process, and he's so confident in it.

Zach Maxey

"He's doing stuff that none of the other pitchers are doing, and some of it even looks goofy to some people – they're trying to figure out, 'What the heck did he bring out to the field with him today?'

"But Zach doesn't care, and then he comes out every time we pitch him that fall and mows everybody down.

"At the beginning, some guys would tease him about it…all of a sudden, you start to see some of the other pitchers doing the same stuff!

"When you're confident in what you're doing and you go out there and do it with conviction, you can blaze your own path. He's done that, for sure."

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Due to his father's work, Maxey has been around the game of baseball for basically his entire life. Unsurprisingly, the Business Analytics major and Academic All-MAC student-athlete hopes to follow in his dad's footsteps working in the sport he loves, hopefully as a pro pitcher but perhaps later in a career such as scouting or working in a general manager's office.

"I just felt like I was born to do it, called to do it," Maxey said of his athletic pursuits on the diamond. "My earliest memories are of being around the field, around players, playing catch.

"Getting to go to a lot of games, go in the dugout, and sometimes travel with the [Cleveland] team was a really cool experience. I got to see a little bit behind the scenes of what goes on and learn what it takes to be a professional baseball player."

A self-described 'late bloomer', Maxey was not highly recruited as a high school pitcher. Due to the ongoing injury struggles, he played in the field more often than he took the mound. When his fastball velocity finally climbed into the high-80's early in his senior year, Maxey was optimistic that opportunities to play at the next level would follow.

"I was really looking forward to my senior season to prove myself and hopefully get an offer," Maxey said.

And then COVID happened. Zach Maxey

There would be no 2020 spring high school baseball season for Maxey, no chance to put it all together and impress college coaches.

So Maxey took things into his own hands. He made videos. He sent text messages. He racked up phone calls. He put highlights on social media. He blasted out emails. Of the possibly 100+ contacts Maxey pursued, a connection with the RedHawks' program ended up paying off. "My high school coach, Matt Rosinski, played here," Maxey said. "He was able to put in a good word for me, and Miami offered me a preferred walk-on spot. That was my only offer at the time.

"I knew I could play and I wanted to prove myself. I knew I could help someone win; I was just very excited they were giving me that opportunity."

Maxey joined a loaded pitching staff for the Red and White that included future MLB draft picks Sam Bachman, Jacob Webb and Jonathan Brand. After pitching just over six innings in 2021, Maxey got his chance to shine in 2022, and he did just that.

The hurler posted a 2.27 ERA and struck out 62 hitters in 71.1 innings pitched last spring, allowing one earned run or less in each of his last six starts. He recorded 11 strikeouts in a win at Kent State in April, and blanked Akron in a complete-game three-hitter on the road in May.

"He's one of those guys where if you're sitting there watching in the dugout, you're trying to figure out why you can't hit him," said Hayden. "Then you get up in the batter's box, swing three times, think you were on it three times, and don't have anything to show for it.

"He's just so masterful at what he does well."

Opalewski agreed. "He's able to throw strikes with the two pitches that look very similar and are very different velocities [fastball and changeup]. And he's working really hard to add a slider as a reliable third option that plays off of the other two really well.

"He does a good job of getting the hitters in between with their timing…he can get you stuck and leave you there for seven innings."

Maxey said his goal for 2023 and beyond is simple: to be consistent but also look for ways to get better at the same time.

"Baseball is at the top of my priority list," he explained. "Everything I do revolves around being good in the game and helping my teammates win.

"There is no off switch."

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Maxey and newcomer Tyler Chadwick (a 19th-round pick of the Reds last summer) headline Miami's 2023 pitching rotation as the RedHawks look to improve on a sixth-place finish (18-22) in last year's Mid-American Conference standings. Hayden also plans to lean on a talented, deep bullpen as his ballclub chases its first MAC Tournament appearance since 2019.

Zach Maxey

"It's really about dominating your role," Hayden said of the focus for his pitching group. "If we give Maxey the ball to start a game and he goes six or seven innings, that's awesome; he has kept every guy in line with their biggest strength.

"It's the same thing as when you're up 10 runs in the game, and we bring in a guy that finishes that game – that's as important as the guy who slams the door with a one-run lead…It's all about just doing your job.

"If we stay healthy, we'd love to keep guys in roles where they flourish."

Hayden expects an improved offensive showing from his squad as well, with a lineup that should easily top last year's .275 team batting average. Miami returns Benji Brokemond, its best hitter from a year ago, in the outfield to go along with Zach MacDonald's slugging (10 homers as a freshman), sixth-year senior Cristian Tejada's experience and Nate Stone's potential (Stone was second on the team in on-base percentage at .390 in 2021 before suffering a season-ending injury in the 2022 opener).

The RedHawks welcome 16 new faces into the program, including transfers like Cooper Weiss, Dillon Baker, Ryland Zaborowski and Evan Appelwick that will factor into the infield. Miami also returns proven contributors such as Stephen Krause (a .287 hitter a year ago) and Brian Zapp (18 steals in 50 starts), along with All-MAC first-team pick David Novak, who is expected to see time behind the plate after serving as a designated hitter for much of 2022.

"I think we'll have some really good options if guys need a day off," Hayden said. "We've struggled the last two seasons finishing the year really well; we've been banged up a lot toward the end, and we didn't have the depth we would have liked to have...

"I think we'll be able to keep our guys healthy and playing our best baseball as the season comes toward the finish line."

Maxey and his teammates have been counting down the days to the season opener, which comes Friday in Atlanta, Ga. against Georgia Tech (coached by Miami Baseball alum Danny Hall), as well as looking forward to their first chance to play in front of their home fans at McKie Field (March 4 vs. Siena). The RedHawks will face each of the other 10 MAC teams in three-game weekend series this spring to hopefully earn a spot in the league's postseason tournament (May 24-27).

Zach Maxey

"We've put in the work," Maxey said. "There's not a spot on the team that I feel like is a downside of our group. We're just well-rounded, and I think we have a lot of depth in all areas…

"We're ready to prove ourselves; that's what makes me most excited. Our guys are hungry, and we're ready to get out there."

While a team with so many new pieces is somewhat of an unknown, the RedHawks' star pitcher is a proven commodity, and Miami will lean on its ace in what it hopes is a successful season.

"I think more than anything, it's time for him to enjoy it," Hayden said. "He can create this confidence; where some guys absolutely feed on the adrenaline of throwing hard and blowing it past guys, you'll see Zach really enjoy making hitters look bad, manipulating the way he pitches to guys and how he attacks hitters.

"I think you'll see him enjoy it a ton, and that confidence will continue to grow."

Opalewski said he doesn't have a long list of things for Maxey to improve after a stellar sophomore campaign. "He's going to do his job, which he takes very seriously," Opalewski said.

"I would like to see him just be himself, and 'himself' is very, very good."

The Miami Baseball 2023 schedule is available here; mark your calendar for the first home series of the spring March 4-5 and plan to come out to McKie Field at Hayden Park to cheer on Maxey and the RedHawks!

Find more Front Row Features at MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures

Players Mentioned

Evan Appelwick

Dillon Baker

Jonathan Brand

Benji Brokemond

Tyler Chadwick

Stephen Krause

Zach MacDonald

Zach Maxey

David Novak

Nate Stone

Cristian Tejada

Cooper Weiss

Ryland Zaborowski

Brian Zapp

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