He never even made 2nd-team all-county at Coral Park. Now, Zach Neto is a 1st-round pick
Zach Neto didn’t have a scholarship offer from a single school in one of the Power 5 conferences when he graduated from Coral Park in 2019 and, frankly, it was easy to understand why. The shortstop was 5-foot-10 and 160 pounds, hit just two home runs in all of high school, and was never anything more than a third-team all-county selection by the Miami Herald. He starts his swing with a distinctive leg kick, which makes him fun to watch, but gave scouts pause. Every team passed up on him in the 2019 MLB draft.
Now, three years later, he’s a first-round pick in the 2022 MLB draft after the the Los Angeles Angles took him with the No. 13 overall selection in Round 1 on Sunday.
Talk about a glow up.
“It gave me an underdog mentality. I kept that through my college career,” Neto said on MLB Network after the Angels picked him. “All the teams that passed on me — it’s going to hurt them at the end of the day. I can’t wait to get back on the field.”
Neto wound up playing for the Campbell Fighting Camels and was twice the Big South Conference Player of the Year in his three years in Buies Creek, North Carolina. He blew up to 6-foot and 185 pounds, and batted .403 with a .500 on-base percentage and .751 slugging percentage in his three seasons at Campbell, blossoming into a first-round prospect because of his strong bat and above-average tools across the board.
He’s the first Fighting Camel to ever be drafted in Round 1 and the first player from his Miami high school to be picked in an MLB draft since 2009. He was also the first player from South Florida taken in this draft.
Neto was poised for a part-time role as a freshman back in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic quickly halted his debut season. When he returned as a sophomore, Neto was a little bit bigger, had a summer of good experience in the South Florida Collegiate Baseball League and hit .405 to win his first Big South Player of the Year award.
As a junior, he was even better, batting .407 with a .514 on-base percentage, a 1.273 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 23 doubles, two triples, 15 home runs, 65 runs, 50 RBIs in 53 games. He also stole 19 bases in 20 tries and has experience at all four infield spots. He’s something close to a five-tool player and now it’s no surprise he’s going in the first round of the draft.
He even quelled any doubts about whether he was just feasting on mid-major competition when Campbell drew the Tennessee Volunteers in the Knoxville regional of the NCAA tournament. In one game against the No. 1 overall seed in Tennessee, Neto went 3 for 5 with a double and a run.
“I bring my own swag to the field,” Neto said. I’m from Miami and I can’t wait to bring that swag to L.A.”
This story was originally published July 17, 2022 at 8:38 PM.
