Really entertaining article about a likely future Hall of Famer.
‘I love that guy’: The Diamondbacks will miss Zack Greinke, their awkward and brutally honest teammate
By Zach Buchanan Aug 4, 2019 33
Few people get to see the real Zack Greinke.
The right-hander shuns the spotlight. With few exceptions, he spoke to the media only after his starts during his time in Arizona. They were not always the most exciting interview sessions – his answers could be unspecific, uninterested and rote.
Though the most accomplished and highest paid of any of his teammates while with the Diamondbacks, he was almost entirely absent from their marketing pushes. You never saw him on the big screen opining on whether a hot dog was a sandwich, never caught him dancing along to Baby Shark on the team’s Twitter account. His quirks sneak through to the public consciousness – saying throwing a no-hitter isn’t worth all the attention, cutting his hair into a ridiculous, floppy mohawk – but they remain just glimpses of who he is and what makes him tick.
Most people aren’t allowed past the surface, but his Diamondbacks teammates were. Many of them didn’t know what to expect when Greinke joined the team or when they came to Arizona after Greinke’s arrival. But once they got to know him, once they gained access to the Full Greinke, he became a favorite. He’s all the things you’ve heard about – blunt, awkward, funny, antisocial – and teammates cherished him because of it. They’ll miss the Zack Greinke the pitcher, but, man, they’re sure going to miss Zack Greinke the guy.
That’s the refrain teammate after teammate sang to The Athletic when asked about how Greinke fit in with the Diamondbacks. Their thoughts about him are collected here, lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Greinke’s reputation often precedes him. He marches to the beat of his own drum. Sometimes that drum included interacting with his teammates, and sometimes it didn’t. His Diamondbacks teammates knew not to take offense to that.
Archie Bradley, reliever: We’d heard the same stuff. I felt like we were open. We let him be who he wanted to be. You want to show up and not talk to guys? Don’t talk. You want to go watch video forever? Go watch video.
Alex Avila, catcher: You always have to understand that he’s going to be who he is, regardless of who he’s talking to. It doesn’t matter. If he ends up walking away from a conversation because he thinks it’s over and you’re not sure yet, that’s just the way it is.
Bradley: I definitely had to learn ways to navigate around what was comfortable for him. You get to a point where if he doesn’t say hi back, you just know that Zack’s not going to talk today.
Jake Lamb, third baseman: If he didn’t want to talk to you, he just walked away or said, “I don’t want to talk to you.” I love that guy.
Robbie Ray, starter: He didn’t talk to Taijuan Walker until the last day of spring training in Tai’s first year here. It takes him a while to warm up. Then, over the years, him and Taijuan have been great friends.
David Peralta, outfielder: His first year in 2016, we were doing the “driving the bus” motion after big plays. He got a base hit and I was telling him to drive the bus and he wasn’t paying attention. Then he looked at me and he did it. That was a big, big highlight for me.
Carson Kelly, catcher: I think he wants to get to know you a little bit more before he opens up. In spring training, I would just say hello to him every day. Just like, “Hey man, how’s it going?” Or, I would do the awkward hand wave. I wouldn’t even say anything, but I’d give him a little awkward hand wave. Then he would do it back to me, and I was like, “We’re connected.”
Paul Goldschmidt, left, and Zack Greinke with their Gold Glove awards in March 2018. Photo: Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today Sports.
They also learned that Greinke usually says what’s on his mind, no matter how it may be received. It’s a quality they came to appreciate. Plus, it was hilarious.
Peralta: He has no filter, and I like it.
Ray: My first interaction with him ever was before spring training. I’d never met him. I saw him walking around the complex, kind of doing his own thing. Then about three days in, I was doing some work in the training room and he came up to me and asked me if I was hurt. I was like, “No.” He said, “Well, you spend a lot of time in the training room to not be hurt.” I just started laughing.
Patrick Corbin, former Diamondbacks starter: My first time meeting him, he told me how he got a base hit off of me. That was our very first conversation ever.
Bradley: Some guys, you make a bad pitch to lose a game and guys don’t bring it up or are nice, and he’ll sit there and be like, “What were you thinking? A fastball in a 2-2 count? He hits 90-percent fastballs. That’s so dumb.” At first, you maybe take it the wrong way, but then you’re like, “Oh wow, he’s just honest. He’s right. It wasn’t a good pitch and it wasn’t the right time to throw it.”
Ray: The first time we were hitting in spring training, I came out of the cage and he told me that was the worst batting practice he’d ever seen. It was just stuff like that. It probably was the worst BP he’d ever seen, too.
Bradley: Remember the Boston series in ’16? We got beat by like 90 runs. Zack gave up like nine. It was probably one of the worst starts of his career. But in the first inning, he made a play where he spun and threw a guy out at home. We were losing 7-0 already. He came in and he really lightly smiled and said, “That play just won me the Gold Glove.” He’d just given up seven runs! And sure enough, he won the Gold Glove that year.
Steven Souza Jr., outfielder: If you didn’t want to hear the truth, don’t ask Zack.
T.J. McFarland, reliever: He always says the things that people try to tip-toe around. He just blatantly says them. Not out of any malice. You asked him what he thought, so he told you.
Andrew Chafin, reliever: He was brutally honest. He didn’t give a shit if he upset anybody or whatever. He would just speak the truth and what’s on his mind. If you asked him something and he disagreed with it, he’d tell you straight to your face. He didn’t care. That’s an attribute you don’t really find in people anymore.
Corbin: It was easy to go up and talk to him if you had a question. Although he’d let you know if it was a stupid question or not.
McFarland: I didn’t ask him any questions. I didn’t want him to give me a bad answer.
Souza: There was a point last year when he told me I was playing terrible. And then there was a point where he told me I was playing very well. I just appreciated the genuineness, that he never faked it for me. He never told me something that he thought I should hear. He just told me like it is.
Avila: He would say something and you weren’t sure if he were meaning it as a joke, and then he’d kind of smirk and you’d go, “Oh, that was a joke.”
Lamb: He’s been playing a long time and is one of the best in the game, so our first year together I asked him, “Do you have a favorite strikeout? Is there a guy you idolized growing up that you struck out?” He kind of gave me the nod, thinking, thinking, and then he started laughing. Like, belly laughing. I was like, “You got one?” He was like, “Yeah. It was actually here at Chase Field. I threw a changeup in the other batter’s box and the guy swung and almost fell over.” I said, “Zack, was that me two years ago?” He started laughing even louder. “Yeah, that was you.”
Bradley: We all know how Zack approached spring. He had a really bad spring outing in 2017 where he gave up a bunch of runs and he was throwing really slow. He came back in and he looked at Shelby Miller and he said, “If I pitch that bad, I might be as bad as you were last year, Shelby.”
Corbin: I was right there. That was pretty funny.
Souza: He never took to people-pleasing. A lot of people are emotionally affected by the way you say something, so he might say something back to you emotionally. Zack never got like that. He never let the emotions get the best of him. I think the only time he did was in July when interference happened at first base. Charlie Blackmon pretended to bump into him. He was pissed at the umpires for calling it.
Torey Lovullo, manager: There was a big round at first base and Zack was kind of in the way and got clipped. Zack basically called a team meeting, called everybody together and said, “We’re not going over that rule next year in spring training because it’s wrong and it’s stupid and I don’t want to make that mistake again next year. So, don’t tell me to do something wrong ever again, Torey.” I said, “Hang on a minute, Zack. You did it perfectly right. I felt like Charlie initiated the contact. That’s the umpire’s judgment.” He said, “Nope. I need to get over that as soon as possible. I’ve got to make pitches, so that’s all I want to say about it.”
Nick Ahmed congratulates Zack Greinke in April after Greinke’s home run in San Diego. Photo: Jake Roth / USA Today Sports.
Diamondbacks players quickly recognized a way to ingratiate themselves to Greinke. It turns out, the quickest way to the pitcher’s heart is to talk about hitting.
Peralta: If you want to talk to him about something and have a lot of conversation, talk about hitting. He thinks he’s the best hitter in the league. He’s pretty good. He’s good. But I always tell him: “Come on, Zack. You’re not as good as you think you are.”
Lamb: I would rarely talk to him about pitching. I would talk about hitting with him. I think that’s why we got along. I would just talk about what a good hitter he is. If I’m 0 for 2, I’d come back and sit next to him in the dugout and say, “This guy has nothing for you, Zack.” Then he would usually agree.
Peralta: He pinch-hit in a day game here against the Giants this year. He got a base hit. It was a line drive and the ball went like at 108 miles an hour. The first thing he said to me when he came to the dugout was, “David, did you see how hard I hit that ball? One-oh-eight!” He was excited and I was like, “That’s nothing.” That’s a lot.
Nick Ahmed, shortstop: He’d always have his computer open and watching guys in the draft. He was doing that a couple years ago and he actually had video saved from years past of me in college. He brought it up and he started to break down my swing, and he said, “Man, that is the worst swing I have ever seen. That is absolutely terrible.” But then he gave me a compliment after. He said, “You have the biggest transformation I’ve ever seen from college to the big leagues from a hitting perspective.”
Adam Jones, outfielder: Earlier in the year, we were on the bus and he said, “When did you become good?” Very direct. I asked him, “What do you mean? I’ve got 12 years in the bigs and I’m 33. I’ve been kinda good most of the way.” But he was like, “No, your first year was OK. Then you turned it on in High A and Double A and Triple A. What clicked?” I’m like, “What the hell is going on with you?”
Kelly: At the beginning of the year, I was sitting on the bench with Robbie and Zack came up. He knew I didn’t have any homers in the big leagues. He goes, “Hey Robbie, who do you think is going to have more homers at the end of the year, me or Carson?” Robbie’s like, “I don’t know…” I looked at him like, “It’s on!” Then, any time I’d hit a homer, I would run after him and give him a little bump, like, “Hey, there’s one.”
Peralta: I started as a pitcher and I told him: “Let’s make a bet. I get on the mound, and I guarantee I’m going to get you out.” He was like, “I don’t think so.” I said, “And, you get on the mound and see if you can get me out.” He was like, “You’re 0 for 9 against me in your career.” I’m like, “That’s true.”
When Greinke was asked in spring training about potential trade scenarios, he reiterated that he enjoyed Arizona and had no desire to leave. His teammates noticed him becoming more comfortable around them. They’ll miss him.
Peralta: The last few years, he was way different. He was outgoing and talking and everything.
Bradley: Zack was definitely a lot more involved, did a lot more team stuff and talked to a lot more guys than he actually got credit for and people saw.
Chafin: Just from seeing the way he acts on the mound and stuff, I expected him to not be anywhere near as good of a person as he was. I was very surprised with how good of a person he was off the field and stuff. I had, I guess you could say, a bad image of him, judging a book by its cover.
Avila: We were on the bus and it was one of the first road trips last year, just a few weeks into getting to know him. I remember saying, “Zack, from what I’ve heard, you’re sometimes tough to get along with. What changed?” He said, “Yeah, I don’t have many more years of playing, so I figured I’d work on my personality.”
Ahmed: I’m a firm believer that you’ve got to be a good guy and you’ve got to take care of your teammates, or you’re going to weed yourself out of a job and out of the game. He was a good teammate in his own way. Not an outspoken guy or a leader, but he worked hard and set a good example and was one of the most prepared guys I’ve ever seen.
Souza Jr.: I’m really going to miss him. He was one of my favorite teammates I’ve ever played with.
:
