Grafton, WI – This past weekend, former Chinooks Zac Lowther, made his debut with Baltimore Orioles becoming the tenth alum to make it to the MLB.
Zac Lowther played college baseball at Xavier University. In the summer of 2015, Lowther made his debut with the Lakeshore Chinooks. As a freshman during his summer campaign, Zac would appear in 14 games, 9 of them starts, and ended the season with a 4-4 record and a 5.07 ERA. In 49 innings of work, he would strike out 52 while walking 29 batters. He also appeared in the annual Northwoods League Major League Dreams Showcase where he appeared in one scoreless inning of work.
After returning to Xavier for a few seasons, Lowther would go on to be drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the CBB round, 74th pick overall. He would kick off his minor league career with the Aberdeen Ironbirds in the New York Penn League. In an impressive first year, he started 11 games and ended with an 1.66 ERA. He would continue to turn heads in 2018 appearing with the Orioles two Single A clubs, starting 22 games out of 23 appearances ending with a 2.18 ERA on the season.
Lowther would spend the entire 2019 season with the Bowie Baysox, Baltimore’s Double A affiliate. Zac would be used as a starting pitcher the entire season. While climbing the ranks in the top prospects rankings with the Orioles, Zac took the mound 26 times as a starter, keeping his ERA below 3.00 once again with a 2.55.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Zac would have to wait for his chance to be promoted to the Orioles’ Triple A affiliate or to the majors.
Lowther kicked off 2021 with an excellent spring training and was sent to Baltimore’s alternate training site, waiting to be called up. That dream became a reality this past weekend when Zac Lowther was called up by the Baltimore Orioles. He would see action on his first day on a major league roster. With Baltimore having a commanding lead over Oakland, Lowther was brought in to close the book on Sunday’s game, appearing in one inning of work and giving up just one hit while striking out one.
We wish Zac the best of luck as he begins his career with the Baltimore Orioles.
The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its’ 27th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 250 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB All-Star Jordan Zimmermann (DET). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
