Zack Weiss

In 63 2/3 innings, he had a 1.98 ERA and gave up 42 hits and 15 walks, while striking out 90 batters (averaging 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings).

Zachary Daniel Weiss (זאק וייס; born June 16, 1992) is an American-Israeli professional baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He has previously played in MLB for the Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Angels and Boston Red Sox.

He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 10th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft.

He did not sign, and instead attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he majored in geography and environmental studies and played college baseball for the UCLA Bruins baseball team.

In 2011, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.

In his junior year of college, he switched from being a starter to pitching as a reliever, had a 2.25 earned run average (ERA), and helped the Bruins win the 2013 NCAA Division I baseball tournament to capture their first national baseball championship.

He was a 2013 Jewish Sports Review Division I College Baseball All-American, along with Alex Bregman and Brad Goldberg.

Weiss has four pitches; he mostly throws his 94 – four-seam fastball and an 84 – slider, and also throws a curveball and a changeup.

Weiss was then selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the sixth round, with the 195th overall selection, of the 2013 Major League Baseball draft.

Weiss signed with the Reds and made his professional debut with the Arizona League Reds, and also played for the Billings Mustangs that year.

Weiss spent 2014 with the Dayton Dragons of the Single–A Midwest League, for whom he was 2–4 with a 2.42 ERA, with 80 strikeouts in 63 1⁄3 innings.

Weiss was a 2015 Southern League All Star, and a 2015 MILB.com Cincinnati Organization All Star, after a season in which his 30 saves were second-most in Minor League Baseball.

Weiss spent 2015 with the Daytona Tortugas of the High–A Florida State League and the Pensacola Blue Wahoos of the Double-A Southern League.

He had a Pensacola-record 25 saves (leading the league; in 27 opportunities), and 30 saves (second in the minor leagues; in 32 opportunities) in total between the two teams.

He was a 2015 Southern League All Star, and a 2015 MILB.com Cincinnati Organization All Star.

After the season, he played in the Arizona Fall League.

He suffered an elbow injury in early 2016 while in major-league spring training, did not pitch that year, and underwent surgery to transpose the ulnar nerve and to remove scar tissue in his pitching elbow in December 2016.

In 2017, Weiss was 2–1 with one save and a 2.08 ERA, and 19 strikeouts in 13 innings, for Daytona, and 2–4 with nine saves (tied for 7th in the league) and a 2.89 ERA, and 37 strikeouts in 28 innings, for Pensacola.

Between the two teams, he averaged 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings.

The Reds added him to their 40-man roster after the 2017 season.

The Cincinnati Reds added Weiss to their active roster for Opening Day 2018, and he made his major league debut that year.

In 2018, he became a dual Israeli citizen.

In October 2018 he became a dual Israeli citizen, partly to help Israel's baseball team make the 2020 Olympics.

Weiss played baseball for Northwood High School in Irvine, where as a senior he was second-team All-California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division II and second-team All-Sea View League.

Academically, he had a 4.0 GPA.

In 2018 in the minors, between the Arizona Reds, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, and the Louisville Bats he was 3–3 with one save and a 5.40 ERA, and 26 strikeouts in 24 1⁄3 innings.

Reds manager Bryan Price said in spring training in 2018: "if he doesn't make the team I imagine we'll see him at some point during the year."

Cincinnati added Weiss to their active roster on their Opening Day, March 30, 2018, and he made his major-league debut on April 12, at Great American Ball Park against the St. Louis Cardinals.

He gave up two walks and two home runs to the four batters he faced, without recording an out.

It was Weiss' only major-league appearance for the Reds; he was released by the team on September 1, 2018.

On November 1, 2018, Weiss signed a minor-league deal with the Minnesota Twins.

He pitched for Team Israel at the 2019 European Baseball Championship.

During the 2019 season, pitching for the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos and Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, he was a combined 1–3 with a 7.24 ERA in 16 relief appearances, with 30 strikeouts in 27 1⁄3 innings.

He was released by the organization on July 15, 2019.

He also pitched for the team at the Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament in Italy in September 2019, which Israel won to qualify to play baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

He pitched for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the summer of 2021, and won its game against Mexico.

He pitched for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Weiss was born in Irvine, California, to Ernest and Nancy Weiss, has a younger sister, Ariana, and is Jewish.

He was bar mitzvahed at Congregation B’nai Israel in Tustin, California.