Born in Toledo, Ohio...graduated from North Side High School in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he was a three-time all-conference selection and hit .595 as a junior to be selected All-Area Team...played college baseball at Central Michigan University...drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 33rd round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft...on July 30, 2022, was traded to the Chicago Cubs for Chris Martin and later traded again on March 27, 2023, to the Detroit Tigers for Carlos Guzman.
2025
Had a career year with the Tigers, playing in 144 games, batting .259/.333/.438 with 23 doubles, 11 triples, 12 home runs and 49 RBI...Earned his first career Silver Slugger Award...the first Tiger in franchise history to win the award as a utility player...Named an All-Star reserve on July 9 for the first time in his career...became the fifth Tigers player to be on the 2025 All-Star team...Led the Tigers in triples and tied for fourth-best in all of MLB...notched his 11th triple of the season on Sept. 1, good for the most triples in a single season by a Tigers left-handed hitter since Curtis Granderson had 13 triples in 2008...Seven of his 11 triples came off left-handed pitchers, tied for the most LHH vs. LHP triples in a single season with many others across baseball dating back to 1950...Became just the seventh Tigers player in franchise history with at least nine triples, 11 home runs and 19 stolen bases in a single season, and the first since Curtis Granderson in 2007...Clubbed his 11th homer and laced his 10th triple, falling a double short of the cycle on Aug. 22...with 19 stolen bases, he is only the second Tigers player in the last 40 years to reach all three marks in an entire season, joining Curtis Granderson in 2007 (23 3B, 23 HR, 26 SB)...Recorded his eighth triple of the season on June 26th...the last Tiger to hit eight triples in an entire season was Nick Castellanos with 10 triples in 2017 and McKinstry is the first Tiger to have eight triples before the All-Star Break since Curtis Granderson had 15 triples pre-All-Star Break in 2007.
2024
Appeared in 118 games for the Tigers in 2024, slashing .215/.277/.337 with 14 doubles, five triples, four homers and 23 RBI...Finished the 2024 season 16-for-16 in stolen base attempts...joined Lawrence Butler as the only MLB players to steal at least 15 bases and not be thrown out...was the first Tiger to do so since Quintin Berry went 21-for-21 in 2012...Named Tigers Player of the Month for August (2024) after batting .368/.411/.544 with seven doubles, one triple, one home run and seven RBI in 23 games...Launched a game-tying solo homer in the fifth inning on Oct. 10 vs. Cleveland...marked his first career postseason homer and was Detroit’s first Postseason homer at Comerica Park since Victor Martinez in Game 4 of the 2013 ALDS vs. Oakland.
2023
Was traded to the Tigers on March 27 and spent the entire 2023 season with Detroit, setting career highs in every offensive category... Was named a finalist for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award among American League utility players...played at six different defensive positions during the season... Made the first pitching appearance of his Major League career on April 8 vs. Boston, allowing two runs on three hits in 1.0 inning... Hit the first pinch-hit homer of his career on April 19 vs. Cleveland, a solo shot in the eighth inning off James Karinchak... Led off the game on May 19 at Washington with a home run off Jake Irvin, his first career leadoff homer... Drew three walks in consecutive games from May 25-26 vs. Chicago (AL), the first Tigers player to do so since Robbie Grossman from April 1-3, 2021... Reached base 23 times over nine games from May 21-29, the first Tiger to reach base that many times over a nine-game span since Ian Kinsler was on base 23 times from Sept. 18-Oct. 1, 2016... In 26 games during May, hit .301/.454/.411 with two doubles, two home runs and six RBI...ranked second in the American League with a .454 on-base percentage in May, trailing only Aaron Judge (.474)... Hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the top of the 10th inning on July 1 at Colorado...was his first career extra-inning homer and his second career go-ahead homer in the eighth inning-or-later (other, April 3, 2021 at Colorado)... Had a pair of triples on Aug. 28 vs. New York (AL), becoming the first Tiger to record multiple triples in a game since Victor Reyes did so on Aug. 5, 2021 vs. Boston.
2022
Zach split the 2022 season between the Cubs and Dodgers, while also seeing time at Triple-A Oklahoma City in the Dodgers' organization... Was traded to the Cubs from the Dodgers on July 30 for right-handed pitcher Chris Martin... At the time of the trade, was batting .335 (64-for-191) with a .417 on-base percentage and a .904 OPS with Oklahoma City, the second-highest batting average among all Pacific Coast League players with at least 200 PA at the time... Snapped an 0-for-22 stretch with three hits, including his first hit as a Cub, on Aug. 9 vs. Washington... Hit his first home run as a Cub on Aug. 24 vs. St. Louis... Sept. 11 vs. San Francisco, tallied a career-high four hits... From Sept. 11-19, hit safely in six of seven games, batting .355 (11-for-31) with two doubles, two triples, two home runs and four RBI... Concluded his campaign by hitting safely in three of his last four games from Oct. 2-5, including a 2-for-6 effort with a home run and three RBI in the final game of the season, Oct. 5 in Cincinnati.
2021
Split the season between the Dodgers and Triple-A Oklahoma City, combining for a .244 average across 100 games (40 games in minors, 60 games in majors)... Played 60 games in the Majors, totaling a .215/.263/.405 slashline with nine doubles, seven home runs, and 29 RBI…had 50 strikeouts against ten walks... Blasted three home runs over a ten-game span from April 3 to April 14…notched his first career home run and RBI with the blast on April 3 at Colorado... Knocked in four runs on June 27 against CHC, going 2-for-4 with a home run... Was even-keeled against left-handed and right-handed pitchers, producing a .224/.283/.367 and .211/.254/.422 slashlines respectively... Made five stints with Triple-A Oklahoma City, playing in 40 games with a .272/.368/.510 slashline…tallied eight doubles, three triples, seven longballs, and 21 RBI... Played multiple positions in the minors: second base (12 G), third base (4 G), shortstop (15 G), left field (6 G), and right field (1 G)… committed just six errors over 138 total chances... Was put on the Injured List in April with a right oblique strain Had his best month in April, averaging .296 (16-for-54) with five doubles, three home runs, and 14 RBI…had a four-game hit streak to start the season, occurring from April 1-5…stole his only base on June 2 against STL…faired well against big league starters, registering a .250 average with 17 RBI…went 3-for-3 against Texas on June 13, tallying two RBI and a double…logged time at second base (20 G), third base (12 G), left field (14 G), and right field (23 G) in the Majors.
2020
Made his Major League debut against San Diego on Sept. 16, appearing as a pinch hitter for Justin Turner...also was a pinch hitter in games on Sept. 17 and Sept. 18 against San Diego...Started his first big league game in right field on Sept. 20 against Colorado, later recording his first ML hit with a double to left field...also stroked a single during that matchup...spent majority of the shortened season as a member of the Dodgers Player Pool, which practiced at USC throughout the year.
2019
Made his Triple-A debut on May 10 before spending the majority of the season with Double-A Tulsa…recalled to Triple-A OKC after slashing .279/.352/.455 with 16 doubles, four triples, 12 homers, 52 RBI and eight stolen bases in 95 games...Promoted to Triple-A on Aug. 4 and collected a six-game hitting streak in his first week with the OKC Dodgers…went 13-for-23 (.565) with three doubles, two homers and 11 RBI…highlighted by a 4-for-4 effort on Aug. 9, when he connected on a career-high two homers and drove in six (career high) against Tacoma...Continued his offensive tear and collected a hit in 15 of his first 16 games in the PCL…amassed a .482 average (27- for-56) during the span with six doubles, seven homers and 25 RBI with eight multi-hit efforts...Named a Mid-Season All-Star with Double-A Tulsa after sitting among the top of the club leaderboard in doubles (4th, 16), triples (2nd, 4), homers (5th, 12), RBI (4th, 52), stolen bases (2nd, 8), walks (4th, 37) and total bases (3rd, 155)…ranked 17th in the Texas League in slugging (.455) and OPS (.807)…capped his season with OKC slashing .382/.421/.753 with eight doubles, a pair of triples, seven homers and 26 RBI across 26 games…registered season highs in runs (70), hits (129), doubles (24), triples (6), homers (19), RBI (78), slugging (.516), OPS (.882) and total bases (222)…played a combined 52 games at second and posted a .974 fielding percentage with five errors in 191 total chances…also logged time at shortstop (46 games), third base (12 games) and outfield (10 games).
2018
Played across three levels of the Dodgers’ farm system and slashed a combined .282/.403/.458 with 11 doubles, four triples, seven homers, 24 RBI and two stolen bases... Began the season at Single-A Great Lakes, where he batted .377 with a pair of doubles and triples, three homers and eight RBI with two stolen bases…hit at a .415 clip over 13 road games, compared to batting .250 in five games at Dow Diamond...Assigned to Advanced-A Rancho Cucamonga on May 31 and continued to turn out strong offensive numbers in the form of a .308/.447/.473 slashline with seven doubles, a triple, two homers and eight RBI across 33 games… paced the Cal League with his .447 OBP and ranked among the top Quakes in average (5th, .308) and OPS (7th, .920)...promoted to Double-A Tulsa on July 24 and spent the remainder of the season hitting .193 with a pair of doubles, a triple, two homers and eight RBI across 25 games in his second career stint with the Drillers…placed on the seven-day IL on April 23 and spent time on the temporary inactive list from June 14 – 17.
2017
In his first full season of professional baseball, slashed a combined .239/.331/.324 with 21 doubles, a triple, four homers, 33 RBI and seven stolen bases with Single-A Great Lakes and Rancho Cucamonga and Double-A Tulsa...Played 82 of his 114 games with Rancho Cucamonga after bouncing between the Quakes and Great Lakes (17) for the better part of the first half…finished the first half slashing .308/.478/.500 with seven doubles, a homer and three RBI in 17 games with Rancho Cucamonga...made his Double-A debut on June 9 and collected his first hit six games later, going 1-for-3 against Northwest Arkansas ...compiled a .947 fielding percentage across the diamond…logged the bulk of his innings at third base, turning in a .911 fielding percentage with 13 errors in 146 chances over 53 games across three levels of the system at the hot corner…also spent time at second base (49 games, .972 FLD%) and shortstop (7 games, .943 FLD%)...wrapped his time with Tulsa collecting back-to-back multi-hit efforts on June 29 (3-for-4, RBI) and July 31 (2-for-4, 3B, RBI).
2016
Began his professional career with the AZL Dodgers…played in four games before ascending to Single-A Great Lakes for the remainder of the summer ... In 41 games with the Loons, posted a .261/.350/.324 line with five doubles, a pair of triples and 14 RBI…ranked seventh on the team with six stolen bases and a .261 average, while finishing eighth in OBP (.350) ... Played 19 games at second and finished third on the squad with a .950 fielding percentage…also saw 18 games at third base (.965 FLD%) and five games at shortstop (.909 FLD%).
