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For the 2019 season, the Saitama Seibu Lions signed only one new foreign import in the offseason coming of their first pennant since 2008. Zach Neal ended up making history.
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Zach Neal
Tenures: 2016-2017, 2023 with the Oakland Athletics, 2019-2021 with the Seibu Lions
Statistics with Oakland (2016-2017): 30 games, (2-4), 84.2 IP, 4.89 ERA, 4.71 FIP, 1.158 WHIP, 3.5 K/9
Statistics with Lions: 49 games, (19-15), 272.1 IP, 4.49 ERA, 1.355 WHIP, 4.7 K/9
Second stint with Oakland (2023): 15 games, (1-1), 27.0 IP, 6.67 ERA, 7.03 FIP, 1.630 WHIP, 8.3 K/9
A native of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Neal played for multiple schools at the University level before he was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 17th round of the 2010 MLB Draft out of Oklahoma. He made it as high as AA in the Marlins organization before he signed a minor league contract with the Oakland A's in 2013.
Neal earned his first MLB action 2016 and appeared as both in relief and as a starter for 24 games. He started six games and even had two saves. After being designated for assignment before the 2017 season, he cleared waivers and spent most of the year in the minor leagues with only six MLB games. It was during this time that an anonymous KBO team in Korea showed interest in Neal, forcing the A's to promote him to their 25-man roster in order to prevent him from leaving abroad.
For 2018, Neal only saw one inning of action at the MLB level with the Los Angeles Dodgers before he was sent back to the minors. He spent time in AAA with both the Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds organizations.
The Lions called his name in the offseason and he won his debut with the team in April of 2019. He quietly played through an injury for the first month and was deactivated from the ichi-gun roster.
It was in ni-gun where he worked hard with the coaches trying to adapt to life in Japan, combined with the style of NPB baseball. He started his first game in more than a month in June for interleague play and won a close 2-1 outing with five innings against the Chunichi Dragons.
It was all about location and execution which propelled him to being one of the most important Lions players for the second half of the season. His work ethic made a difference .
He didn't lose a game since his callup from June and finished the year with a 2.87 ERA and 12 wins. Neal became the first American-born pitcher in Lions history with double digit wins since Marion O'Neil (1953) in the Nishitetsu era and the first foreign pitcher with at least 10 wins since Chih-Chia Chang in 2002.
This stretch of good starting pitching from Neal helped the team finish the 2019 regular season strong, repeating at Pacific League pennant winners in an unexpected manner with everything clicking in September. Neal pitched well in his playoff appearance, but got a no-decision due to the bullpen blowing the lead.
The Lions rewarded Neal with a two-year contract following his success and even had towels and a bento box with his name on it. As time went on, his hero interviews became more colorful as he made sure to speak more Japanese lines including the abbreviated "Azasu" (short for Arigato Gozaimasu) in thanking the interviewer. A towel would feature "Azasu" on it.
Neal couldn't repeat his success in 2020 or 2021 as he only had one win in the latter season. With the rest of the league adjusting to his slower pitches, he was dependent on pitch to contact, which worked having Sosuke Genda and Shuta Tonosaki playing behind him initially.
Reflecting on his career leading up to the Lions, Neal wrote about his hard work and journey, which even led to wanting a specific trade at the minor league level. The Lions didn't retain Neal nor any other foreign player after the 2021 season concluded, where they finished in last place for the first time since 1979.
Neal signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies organization for 2022. In April of 2023, he returned to the Oakland A's on a minor league contract.
The A's called him up twice during the 2023 season where he initially took mop up innings. In his second call up, he stayed on the MLB roster for the final two months as the depth options in Oakland were thin.
He received two starts and earned a win on August 25 against the Chicago White Sox going five innings. It was his first win at the MLB level since 2016. Oakland designated him for assignment at the conclusion of 2023 and he retired two months later.
Reflecting on his career as mostly a minor league journeyman with stints in Oakland, his legendary 2019 won't be forgotten among Lions fans. As short lived as his success was, they don't win a Pacific League pennant without Neal in the rotation.
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