Zane Pacek's 7-foot frame comes with equally big talent for Pittsburgh-area high school baseball team
SAXONBURG, Pa. (KDKA) - The WPIAL baseball season is nearing its end, but one player in southwestern Butler County is just starting his journey, and you might say he has a high ceiling.
Sophomore pitcher Zane Pacek is a big part of the Knoch baseball team. At 7 feet, he towers over teammates and opponents.
"You'll hear stuff in the dugout whenever you're pitching just like, 'Oh, how's the weather up there?' or, 'Oh, there's a giant on the mound,' but in the line, after they'll be like, 'Dude, you're so tall, like holy cow, he's huge!'" Pacek said.
Luckily for Zane, he's used to those comments after 16 years of standing out in public.
"He never stopped growing," Zane's mother, Athena Pacek, said. "He never plateaued, like the average kid would have a growth spurt. Zane just kept growing, literally from the time he was born. He was a month early, [and] at one week old, he was off the growth chart. He was years ahead of his size, so he was in men's clothes in elementary school."
He's already one of the tallest athletes in WPIAL sports history and may not be done growing.
"My estimation on him is about 7-foot-2. My mom said my brothers grew at least one inch after they graduated high school. My brothers are 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-7," Athena said.
One of those brothers is Jason Hammel. He pitched 13 years in the major leagues and won a World Series with the Chicago Cubs. Zane frequently reaches out to his uncle for advice.
"He tells me what he would do with weightlifting to become stronger and pitching mechanics because he's lankier and longer," Zane said of Hammel's advice.
Zane's coaches at Knoch also give him advice, like trying to use his length to his advantage.
"I told him, 'You're 7-feet. You reach out, [and] give the ball to the catcher. Just reach out and touch the catcher,'" said coach Bill Stoops.
As you might imagine, Zane also plays basketball, and he's still weighing his options on which sport to play at the next level.
"I think I have more of a future in baseball because you never see 7-foot pitchers. You see a lot of 7-foot basketball players, though," Zane added.
"Zane's name is going around," Stoops said. "Virginia Tech contacted me about him, Penn State, and Georgia Tech, so his name is out there right now."
Zane's fastball has been clocked in the high 80s, and coaches believe he could easily reach the 90s soon. He's also considering playing basketball and baseball at the next level, and college scouts are not ruling that out.
