Sorry about that, here ya go...

Posted on: March 15, 2021 at 14:03:56 CT

There are at least two truths about Zack Greinke: There are a million stories, and they never get old.

The Athletic previously wrote about the 37-year-old Greinke’s origins with the Royals and his time with Arizona, but what about the players who have caught him? So The Athletic called up 15 catchers from all stages of his likely Hall of Fame career and asked for their best stories. The result: a classic sequel.

A.J. Ellis, Dodgers: This will be more of a novella than an article if I tell all my Zack stories.

Jason Kendall, Royals: There were times in a game he’d be like, “Hey, what are you doing Thursday night? We have the day off, wanna get a beer or something?”

Jason LaRue, Royals: He’s definitely a different bird.

Brayan Peña, Royals: We were eating together and I was eating ice cream. He is very lean, great body, he’s in ultimate shape, he really takes care of himself, right? We were talking and he says, “You want to know one reason why you’re not an everyday big-league catcher?” I thought he was going to say something about my framework or blocking balls or game-calling or hitting. He goes, “Because you eat too much ice cream.” I was like, “Zack, seriously?” The room was full of players. Everybody started laughing. So I got up and hugged him. Every time that we went to a city after that, he made sure I had the best ice cream they were selling in that city.

John Buck, Royals: His heart beats on a little different pattern than everybody else’s.

Tim Federowicz, Dodgers: So we’re in a team meeting, and it was a real serious meeting getting ready for the playoffs. Like, “Let’s get ready, everyone get locked in, we’ve got about a week left.” And then at the end, Don (Mattingly) was like, “All right, anybody got anything?” Zack raised his hand, and we’re ready to listen to him. And he goes, “Yeah, after you guys are done using the bathroom, just make sure you wash your hands.”

Buck: One day I came home to where I had bought a house in Surprise (Arizona). There was a pretty cool little basketball park just down the road from the stadium. And my house was right by that one. So after he’d throw, and after he’d run, he’d be out there shooting hoops with 12-year-old kids in the neighborhood. Zack’s socks are pulled up. He’s got his bedhead going, and he’s out there in a tank top and shorts. Before short shorts were cool, Zack was wearing them. Out there with these 12-year-olds playing hoops.

Jonathan Lucroy, Brewers: He’s just a very unique breed of baseball player.

Federowicz: There were times I’d show up to the ballpark and try to find him. All of a sudden I’m going out to BP, and he’s sitting in the middle of the outfield, legs crossed, earphones in, just looking down at his phone.

Caleb Joseph, Diamondbacks: So I started thinking: “Man, this guy is like a snow leopard.” He’s a very rare, borderline-extinct creature that only comes out every once in a while. And sometimes people sit and stare and wait with cameras, just to get a glimpse or two of the snow leopard when it randomly hunts.

LaRue: As I said, he’s a different bird.

Peña: I love the guy, man.


Zack Greinke with Brayan Peña in 2010. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
Lucroy: You have to understand. You can’t take what he says personally. He’s just brutally honest.

Joseph: And that’s the best part about Zack.

Lucroy: For context, I’ve known Zack and Zack’s family for years and years. I played with his brother, Luke, in high school travel ball. He’s from about 30 minutes from where I grew up in central Florida. One of the first times I spoke to him in Milwaukee, he walks up to me in spring training. He looks at me and just says, “You know, if I wanted to be, I could probably be a better catcher than you,” and just walks away. I was like, “What? I can’t believe he just …”

Ellis: The first day I met Zack in person was in spring training at Camelback Ranch. … It was 2013, and I was catching Zack. I was like, “Hey Zack, first time we’re going to work together today in the pen. Just wanted to touch base and see what you wanted to work on, what I can do to help you out, whatever I can do.” He kind of got quiet, he kind of got a smirk on his face, he kind of stared straight ahead, and then he said, “Well, A.J., it’s pretty simple. I stand on the mound; you go 60 feet away. You squat down and I throw you the baseball. It’s pretty easy.” He kept that smirk, he didn’t break his face at all, and I just walked away, head down, kicking rocks.

Drew Butera, Dodgers: I would catch his bullpens occasionally at the same facility that we both went to. … My dad would throw us BP, and he would hit with me.

Sal Butera, Drew’s dad: We were talking, and we were throwing out certain hitters. He was saying, “I’d pitch this guy a certain way here. I would do this. I would do that.” And then I said, “How would you throw to Drew?”

Drew Butera: He thought about it for about 10 seconds and …

Sal Butera: He said, “Oh, I’d probably just throw it right down the middle.”

Drew Butera: I was like, “Dang, just throw fastball right down the middle?”

Federowicz: I was struggling hitting at the time. I was like, “Man, I really don’t know what to do. I feel like I’m such an easy out.” And his response was like, “Yeah, you are. If I was facing you, I would just throw you all sliders and you’d have no chance.”

Ellis: He did that to Nick Punto on the plane once, which was one of the greatest of all time. They matched up for years with the Twins and the Royals. Zack told Nick, “I just can’t afford to walk you. That’s the only way you’re going to hurt me is if I walk you, so I just throw it right down the middle and let you get yourself out.”

Buck: It’s like when people go to work and they just have random thoughts. Zack says them.

Scott Walter, Class-A Wilmington: If I ever wanted to have a good laugh, I would just go and talk to him: “So what’s on your mind today?”

Joseph: We were in Pittsburgh. It was probably the middle of the season. He might have been our best hitter in 2019. He had like an .800 or .900 OPS. I think he’d hit a couple home runs already, and everything he was hitting was just right on the button.

Lucroy: I think he loves hitting more than pitching. He does. He had a double during a game, and he texted me after the game a picture of the exit velo.

Joseph: I don’t even think I’d had a hit yet. I was in the cage, and he kind of walked in. It was a very random time, where it was just me and him. And I said, “Hey, your swing looks really good. Have you changed something?”… He started to explain to me a couple of the things that he did. And you could tell he had a really incredible knowledge for hitting. I was like, “Can you watch me?” So I hit a ball off the tee up the middle and it was struck OK. And I turned around and said, “What do you think about that?” He said, ‘Well, it’s just OK. You don’t really have that much power, so you probably shouldn’t hit the ball in the air as high because they’re just gonna catch it. So maybe you should try to keep it a little bit lower.”

Tuffy Gosewisch, Diamondbacks: If you don’t want the honest answer then don’t ask him the question.

Tony Arnerich, Class-A Wilmington: In spring training, we were both staying at the hotel. I was facing him and I got to a 1-2 count and fouled off like three pitches. And then he just smokes me in the elbow with a fastball. That night, we were back at the hotel and we’re in the hot tub. My elbow is kind of barking and I’m like, “Greink, man, you know where you’re throwing the ball. What’s up, man? Did you hit me on purpose?” And he was like, “Well, I only had so many pitches, I didn’t want to waste them all on you. I wanted to face other hitters so I had to get you out of there.” I was like, “Oh my god.” His brutal honesty was so great.

Ellis: We were kind of scuffling, and he and I weren’t playing that day. We’re shagging in the outfield. I said, “Hey, Zack, you’re a really smart guy; you understand the game. If we’re gonna turn this team around, what would you do? Think about roster moves, trades, minor-league guys. What would you do?” In Zack fashion, he doesn’t answer right away.

Sal Butera: He digests everything that is said. He may not answer you at first.

Ellis: In the fifth inning, about two or three hours later, Zack sidles up next to me on the rail at Petco Park. He goes, “I’ve been thinking about your question.” I have to rack my brain and think about what question. He goes, “The first thing I’d do is I’d trade you.” I said, “What?” He goes, “I would trade you because your value will never be higher than it is right now, and we can probably get a Double-A starting pitcher that will help us down the road, and this offseason we can sign Brian McCann because he’s a free agent. That’s probably going to be the best thing for us.” He kind of pivots his head around, looks back and then he turns back and goes, “What about you?”

Buck: I had been catching him for a while. This was right at the end. And it happened to be the year he was having his Cy Young year (2009). In the middle of that, he said, “John, I know I’m throwing good, but I’m starting to second-guess myself. I don’t want you to catch me anymore.” I was just kind of like, “What?” I was young, too. My ego was hurt. And then he goes, “I just think you’re too smart. You just make me out-think what I’m calling. You have too many good reasons, and sometimes I just want to throw it. And with Miguel Olivo, I just don’t get that.” We’re both sitting there, and Olivo is like, “OK, so I’m dumb?” And Zack goes, “Yeah, but I like throwing to you.” Olivo and I were like, “How do we both want to punch him, but we both get it and appreciate his honesty?”

Lucroy: We were playing the Reds and we were sitting there going over the hitters. He came and sat down with me and the pitching coach and the other catcher before the game. We’re going over the lineup, and I think we got to Joey Votto and Zack stands up and looks at me and goes, “I don’t agree with anything you’ve said,” and just walked out.


Zack Greinke with A.J. Ellis in 2014. (Joe Robbins / Getty Images)
Walter: We’re in Lynchburg and warming up in the bullpen. He would do this thing where he’d just smile to himself. Like a smirk. He started laughing. It’s before a game, and it’s 90 and humid and you’re already in a bad mood. I kind of stood up and walked toward him. I’m like, “What’s up, Greink?” He kind of walked toward me and goes, “I don’t know, man, I just feel so good. I feel like I’m gonna throw a no-hitter.”

Matt Tupman, Class-A Spokane: It was like Wiffleball to him.

Walter: He could literally do anything that he wanted with the ball.

Buck: He could go to places where unicorns go and hang out and graze.

LaRue: He would be throwing 95 and then just throw an eephus 85 mile-per-hour fastball in there. We would be like, “What the heck are you doing, Zack?” He was like, “Well, I felt like that was the right pitch.”

Tupman: He would literally throw his four-seam fastball, and he would just throw it slower. It worked perfectly, just like a changeup. … You got this whole bullpen of guys who are holding their changeup and working on it, pronating in the air, intensely working on their motion, and he’s just like, “OK, I’m just going to throw a four-seam fastball, but just not as hard.”

Arnerich: He was so talented, he would make up pitches out of nowhere. You’d call a curveball and he’s all of a sudden throwing a submarine curveball. You’d be like, “What’s that?” He’s like, “Eh, I’m just trying something out.”

Walter: He called me out to the mound and was like, “Hey, what do you think about a cutter right here? This is like the perfect time.” I kind of looked at him and I go, “Zack, do you even throw a cutter? I don’t remember you having one.” This is in the middle of a game. He goes, “No, but I can do it.”

Kendall: He’s not scared to fail.

Walter: He would call me out to the mound, and I remember one time he said, “I know I can strike him out with a slider, but I really want to break his bat.”

Arnerich: He probably did this twice, and I’ve heard other people have had this experience with him. He was like, “Hey, Arnie, next inning I’m throwing one in the 50s.” I’m like, “What?” He goes, “I’m going to throw one under 60 miles per hour. Just call a curveball, and it’s going to be under 60 miles per hour.” In my head I’m like, “This kid is just playing games within the game.” So we go out the next inning and call a curveball and he just throws this eephus curveball that loops in there for a strike. I catch it and look up at him and he’s already turned around looking back at the miles per hour on the scoreboard. It was like 58. He turns around and gives just a little fist pump.

Sal Butera: Zack went to an Atlanta Braves (pre-draft) tryout, along with Drew and a number of guys. … Drew was catching Zack, and I remember one of the area guys from the Braves was talking to the scouting director from the Braves. He yelled at Zack and said, “Is that all you got?” He was probably throwing 89 to 91 mph at that time. And the next pitch was about 95. Zack yelled back, “Is that good enough for you?”

Buck: I think he was an insane competitor and he knew: “I want to beat people in every way. I want to have weapons to beat them however.”

Jeff Mathis, Diamondbacks: If someone took one of his nasty pitches — a lot of times it was people laying off his changeup — he would walk halfway to the plate and tell them, “Hey, man, that was a really good take.”

Lucroy: Two years ago, we were in spring training. I was on the Angels and he was on the Diamondbacks. Me and Albert Pujols went back there to get at-bats. It was like a Triple-A game, and Zack comes over and starts for the Diamondbacks team. So first at-bat, I hit a home run. Remember, there are like 15 people watching the game and they’re mostly scouts. I hit first base and Zack starts yelling at me. There’s nobody there, OK? And he starts yelling, “You’re never getting a hit off of me ever again.” Just screaming at me.

Drew Butera: He’s the most elite competitor on the mound that I’ve caught.


Zack Greinke with John Buck in 2007. (Doug Benc / Getty Images)
Gosewisch: Has anyone talked about Zack on a plane? So, Zack was extremely disciplined in his diet and how he took care of himself.

Mathis: He’s one of the better-nutritioned players I’ve been around.

Gosewisch: But when we would get on the airplane, we would have these special cookies that they would always have for us. … Zack would have all of them in his seat, and I’d say by the end of the flight, he’d have about a dozen cookies just crushed while he was on the plane. It was so random. The plane was his space where he could just let it go and just see how many cookies he can possibly eat on the airplane.

Ellis: It’s like the opposite of the Wade Boggs how-many-beers-can-I-drink-on-this-flight story. For Zack, it’s how many cookies can I eat?

Joseph: We shared a love of cutting grass.

Alex Avila, Diamondbacks: He was throwing one of his first bullpens in spring training, and we were getting to know each other. We’re sitting there, and the grounds crew is mowing the outfield. He’s staring at the guy mowing the lawn. Out of nowhere, he asks me, “What kind of grass do you think this is?” Then he asks me about the lawnmower and whether having grass or turf in your yard is better. The funny thing is, earlier that offseason, I had just turfed my backyard. So we talked for an hour about grass and artificial turf. A month or so into the season, I randomly get a text message from him in the afternoon before a game. He’s sitting on a riding lawnmower in his backyard, shirtless. He went with grass. It’s a picture that I’m gonna save for the rest of my life.

Ellis: He took a deep dive in the fantasy football world, and like anything, when Zack gets involved with something, he’s going to be all in. … He took on the persona as Trader Zack, a guy who was constantly chasing down roster reconstruction and making changes. Trader Zack was working the clubhouse.

Avila: He likes that whole GM style of being able to create a team.

Ellis: It was during the middle of his warm-up session in the Dodger Stadium bullpen. At that point it was like 7:03 p.m. All of a sudden he stops throwing and starts walking toward me. So I pop up from behind the plate and meet him halfway. He looks at me and says, “I’ve been thinking.” It could be about anything. He says, “I’ve been thinking. You guys have this quarterback injury issue going on now. I’ve got a ton of quarterbacks on my roster, and I noticed you’ve got a bunch of wide receivers on yours. I think we match up really well so I think you guys should make a trade. We’ll talk about it a little bit later.” Then he totally 180’d and walked back to the mound.

Peña: I told him at the end of the season once, I said, “Zack, listen, I don’t know if I’m going to be back next year, so I want to have something with you. I need a picture of you and I together or a baseball or something.” He goes, “Yeah, Peña, no problem. Of course.” We took a picture and I told him, “Zack, I need you to sign this picture.” He signed the picture: “To Brayan Peña, one of my best friends and a great catcher. Please do not sell this on eBay.”

Joseph: He was arguably the most unique teammate I’ve ever had.

Avila: He’s one of the top five teammates for me, all time.

LaRue: He’s like, “This is who I am, accept me for who I am, and if you don’t like it, too damn bad.” I thoroughly appreciate that.

Arnerich: It’s really refreshing looking back on just how he was so true to who he was.

Peña: He’s the best, man. He’s the best.