Barnhart Brings Hope For Lightly-Recruited Players

Zane Barnhart SS / 2B / Medina Highland, OH / 2020

MEDINA - Never give up on your dreams.

Zane Barnhart is living proof.

“Overlooked” in his own eyes when coming out of high school at Medina Highland, Barnhart is now making a name for himself pitching in the MLB Draft League.

“I’m a late bloomer,” the 21-year-old explained. “I always had the skill set, but not the physicality or size.”

It even had him wondering if there was a baseball future after high school.

“I was only contacted by a few schools, it was nothing crazy,” reflected Barnhart, the 387th-ranked player in Ohio’s 2020 class.

THE BEGINNING

It was the summer of 2019 at the PBR Central Ohio Prospects Games when Hillsdale first took notice. Then in July of that year, Barnhart threw a two-hit shutout for Ohio Elite playing at the PBR Border Battle in Toledo. His only Division II offer followed not long after.

A two-way player at the beginning of his days at Hillsdale, Barnhart soon put full attention toward pitching.
“Halfway through the season I became just a pitcher,” Barnhart related. “It was a tough thing to hear at the time, I enjoyed fielding and hitting as much as pitching. But looking back at it now, it’s the best thing that could have happened. Once I focused on just pitching I saw some big jumps.”

Barnhart went from topping out at 90 during a freshman year he called “nothing special” to earning second-team all-conference recognition as a sophomore. This past season the Hillsdale junior was first team all-league and a unanimous all-region selection, with his velo now reaching 98.

“My freshman year I gained weight,” explained Barnhart, who was 5-9 and 170 pounds entering college. “I put on a lot of ‘not great’ weight and as a pitcher I wasn’t performing as well as I thought I could. But I did hit 90 for the first time.

“I took off that weight and put on clean weight after that year and my sophomore year is when I saw my velo go up, topping at 93 in the spring and 94 that summer. Junior year I topped at 98 in my last outing of the spring and hit 99 my first outing in the summer in the MLB League.”

To that, Barnhart gave credit to hard work.

“I got in the weight room and learned what to do for my body,” Barnhart said. “I did more jumping exercises to get more explosive.”

BIG YEAR AHEAD

It was in early April when Barnhart was given the invite to play in the MLB Draft League, which is now entering its second month of action.

“I was super excited,” admitted Barnhart, who was 5-1 with six saves and a 2.06 ERA in 20 appearances this past season at Hillsdale. “I didn’t have a place to go this summer. I was getting nervous with no place to throw before the draft.”

Unlike coming out of high school, Barnhart is not being overlooked this time around when it comes to interest from MLB organizations.

“I’ve been contacted by a few teams that said they’ve seen me and were impressed,” Barnhart related. “I hope it works out this year, but if not I’ll go to West Virginia.”

The Big 12 Conference school, located just a little less than three hours from his hometown of Medina, is where Barnhart has transferred for his senior season.

“My goal has always been to play baseball at the highest level I can,” he noted. “If it’s West Virginia, then great. It has all the tools to be the best athlete I can be.”

Barnhart is certainly showing what he can do in the MLB Draft League, earning recognition as the Pitcher of the Week for June 12-18.

In that time frame, the 5-10 195-pounder made two relief appearances, going 1-0 with 11 strikeouts in 5.2 innings on the mound for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, giving up just two hits and one walk while not permitting an earned run.

“That was pretty cool,” Barnhart said of the honor. “It showed I can compete with the best at my level.”

That is evident just looking at his stats.

In nine games on the mound, Barnhart is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA allowing four hits, 10 walks and two earned runs in 14 innings while striking out 24. The hard-throwing right-hander has a 1.00 WHIP, with opposing batters averaging just .085.

So what makes him special on the ball diamond?

“My competitiveness, that’s my biggest thing,” Barnhart said. “It’s something I’ve always had and probably the biggest thing about me as a pitcher. If you’re not competitive on the mound, hitters will see that and get more comfortable in the box.”

THE JOURNEY

That competitiveness has proven beneficial on the baseball journey Barnhart has traveled.

“Whether I’m competing for a spot in the rotation or competing against other teams, I know I have to work off the field and dedicate myself to baseball if I’m going to get as good as I can possibly be,” Barnhart pointed out.

His interests off the field all relate to his performance on the field.

“I really like to lift,” Barnhart said. “I lift six days a week in the offseason. And I like to run a little bit. Other than that, I like to hang out with friends and family.”

But it is his desire to excel that has helped him get where he is today.

“My work ethic is almost unmatched,” Barnhart said. “Lifting six times a week and making sure I get throwing in every day, with rest when I need to. It takes a tough mindset. Even when things are not going the way I want, I’m able to work through that and continue to grind.”

It helped lightly-recruited Barnhart get discovered by Hillsdale and the rest is history.

“They saw me at a PBR event and I reached out to them and told them when I was pitching and they came and saw me pitch,” Barnhart reflected back to the Central Ohio Prospects Games and the Border Battle that initiated interest from Hillsdale. “After that they invited me to a camp and I did well. Then they invited me back to a Senior Camp and did well and got my offer. I committed the next week.”

Admittedly, it was a nerve-wracking experience.

“This was before Covid, and I know a lot of guys might have lost out on the possibility to play because of Covid since then, but it was definitely a relief at the time for me,” Barnhart said of his offer and commitment. “Looking back at it now, it was REALLY a relief.”

THE OPPORTUNITY

After the difficult quest to get college interest while in high school did Barnhart ever imagine being where he is today?

“It’s always been my dream to be in the spot I am now,” Barnhart revealed. “In high school I couldn’t picture myself where I am now. But in the last year is when I started to really believe I had a chance. My velocity was sitting in the low-90s and I’m thinking I only need to gain a couple of miles an hour and that will make my offspeed better. But since then I've gained five miles an hour.”

Now 21 years of age, Barnhart knows more about pitching than just throwing hard.

“I like to be aggressive,” related Barnhart, who points to a four-seam fastball and slider as his top two pitches. “I like to attack hitters. I like pitching backwards, I can throw a slider in any count. I like throwing up in the zone with my fastball and throwing my slider off of that.

“My third best pitch is my changeup, I’ve really been working on that the last year. I also have a sinker, but I don’t throw that a lot right now.”

No matter the pitch, Barnhart understands the importance of continuing to improve as he strives for greatness.

“I want to play at the highest level I can play at,” Barnhart explained. “If that’s only the minor leagues, then that’s what it will be. But the dream is to play in the big leagues.”

What will it take to do that?

“Definitely getting my changeup to the point of throwing it in any count like my slider,” Barnhart said. “I also need to make my slider a little better and make my fastball a little better, just being more consistent with that velo.”

BRIGHT FUTURE

While the road ahead is becoming more clear, Barnhart admits the journey to now has been interesting to say the least.

“I was nowhere near as good coming out of high school as I am now,” Barnhart said. “I don’t really know if I was ‘Division I good’ out of high school, but I’ve definitely improved a lot.”

To that, credit was passed out.

“Eric and Gordie Theisen, my coaches at Hillsdale freshman year, took a chance on me and helped develop me,” Barnhart pointed out. “Then new coaches came in my sophomore year. Tom Vessella helped me become a better pitcher and more consistent at what I do.”

There is no doubt the future for Barnhart is bright, be it playing Division I ball at West Virginia or getting drafted and taking his game to the pros.

“If given the opportunity to play college baseball anyone can take that opportunity and run with it to achieve the goal of playing at the highest level they can,” Barnhart said.

So what would be his advice to anyone out there that is in the same shoes as he was in high school while looking to get noticed?

“Keep working, keep grinding, keep doing everything you can to make yourself better,” Barnhart explained. “The results will come if you put in the work.”

It not only helped Barnhart get where he is today, it is what he continues to do in his quest to play at the highest level.

“If I have the opportunity, I’ll run with it similar to college baseball,” Barnhart said of getting a chance to play professionally. “I took that opportunity with college and look at where I am now. If I get that opportunity at the next level I think good things will happen.”

***Video from 2019***