The dream of becoming a Major League Baseball pitcher ended earlier this month for Kevin Ziomek, who retired after shoulder surgery derailed the journey he began as a boy growing up in Amherst.
Ziomek made the decision to retire at age 25 when he realized he could no longer throw the ball hard enough to compete at the level needed to stay on track for the major leagues. “I felt like I had done everything I could to put myself in position to succeed and unfortunately the arm didn’t want to cooperate. My body was running out of gas and I could just tell it wasn’t there all of spring training. Just didn’t feel right. Didn’t have anything on the ball. Didn’t have the zip I used to have. I felt like I had exhausted every possibility I could, every option to improve it.”
Despite the disappointment of ending his professional career, Ziomek showed good judgment in reading his body and understanding that his left arm – which once threw fastballs in the mid-90s mph – was not going to be the same after surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome last June. His fastball had slowed to the low- to mid-80s during spring training this year, the same speed he threw pitches when he was 14.
Better for Ziomek to make a clean break now rather than trying to pitch at less than full strength after his first and only major injury. It was caused by compression of the nerves or blood vessels between his collarbone and first rib (thoracic outlet). Several major league pitchers have had surgery for the condition in recent years.
Now Ziomek can focus on a new path in his life, and he has many options because he chose education instead of entering professional baseball directly after high school. He was drafted in the 13th round in 2010 after graduating from Amherst Regional, but instead attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he pitched for three seasons. Ziomek now lives in Nashville.
After he was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the second round of the 2013 draft, Ziomek returned to Vanderbilt during the offseason to complete his business degree. The closest he got to the big leagues was opening spring training at the Tigers’ major league camp in 2016. Though that suggested he was on target to eventually pitch in the majors, his season was sidelined almost immediately by the arm injury. He made only one more professional start, on May 20 for the Lakeland Flying Tigers.
Ziomek was aiming to join a select roster of major league baseball players who grew up in Hampshire County. According to the Baseball Almanac, there are fewer than a dozen, and the only one from Amherst was John “Bull” Henry, who played from 1910 to 1918 with the Washington Senators and Boston Braves. He had an unremarkable career, finishing with two home runs and a .207 batting average.
One of the most difficult things about retiring was giving up the camaraderie of being part of a team, Ziomek said. “It was tough saying goodbye to my teammates, some of the guys I’ve been playing with for years … I just tried to focus on some of the positives and all the amazing things baseball has done for me.”
Among those highlights was pitching his senior year for the Amherst Regional team that won a state Division 1 championship in 2010. A year earlier, Ziomek pitched a perfect game against Northampton in the western Massachusetts playoffs, which was witnessed by his grandfather, Stanley P. Ziomek, the legendary “Mr. Baseball” of Amherst who died last July.
Sharing baseball successes with his family is a fond memory for Ziomek. “The big one for me was being able to play in front of my grandfather and my father, my whole family. Being able to experience all that success with them and knowing they were a part of it, too.”
Still, Ziomek realizes there are pursuits in life other than baseball. “Baseball’s not going to define me,” he said. “I know there are a lot more things I’m going to be successful at. I’ve got a lot of good things to look forward to.”
We congratulate Ziomek for being one of the best baseball players from western Massachusetts in recent years, and look forward to his future achievements off the diamond.