J.P. Stevens High School’s Zach Marzano was named the team MVP last year because of offense (.430 batting average and 31 RBIs) and his pitching. Marzano’s toughest critic happened to be the Hawks’ head coach, his father, Dave Marzano. Zach Marzano admits his baseball coach at J.P. Stevens High School is harder on him than the rest of his teammates.
However, the rising senior actually doesn’t mind that kind of tough love because DaveMarzano is his father. He describes his relationship with his father, a former minor league and collegiate player, as great.
“We handle business on the baseball field and leave it there,” said Zach Marzano, whose team finished 17-8 and tied Old Bridge High School for the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Red Division title. “As far as my father being hard on me, I feel like that’s going to better prepare me for the next level.”
Zach Marzano qualifies as a legitimate college prospect. Last season, he earned the Hawks’MVP award after batting .430 with 33 hits, 31 runs batted in and 21 runs scored. He also became an important addition to the pitching staff by logging 25.2 innings while yielding just nine runs and striking out 15.
Zach Marzano has already been contacted by multiple schools at all levels and hopes other schools take notice.
Dave Marzano is focused on his son’s skills on the diamond and not their personal relationship.
“What made him a valuable player last season were clutch hitting and some terrific outings in his first year on the mound,” he said.
Zach Marzano has also shown he’s a leader, which is why he was voted captain for next spring’s team along with fellow seniors Luke Jacobi and Frank LoGuidice.”
Zach Marzano is high on his team’s expectations, not only because a number of quality offensive players return but also a pitching staff that combined for an almost 2.00 earned-run average. Still, he understands numbers only look good on the scoresheet and everybody will have to produce.
“I think we need to execute small ball better and improve our defense,” he said. “In some situations, we failed to tack on runs late in games and even though we won some, it’s easier to play up by five runs than down by two. If we can get a lit- tle stronger and polish some things, we can be even better.” It’s not surprising Zach Marzano’s impact on the baseball team was immediate when he entered J.P. Stevens, but his athletic skills also made him an excellent football and basketball player. He played all three sports since he began high school, but because his future is college baseball, Zach Marzano might discontinue playing the others. The truth is he was destined to be a baseball player. As soon as the youngster could walk, his father had him carry around a bat in his hands. His early organized baseball days were spent playing with the Franklin Township Little League where the family resided and the North Edison Little League when it moved to Edison.
His offseason is spent playing for the Hawks’ GMC Summer and Fall League teams, and he also is a member of Full Count, a development showcase team out of Piscataway. He also trains at Pinnacle, a specialized gym run by James (J.R.) Papernik and prescribes to a program called Velocity Plus designed to build arm strength.
As far as the highlight of his career, Zach Marzano said that so many good things have happened in his life he has difficulty choosing one. However J.P. Stevens’ trip to Cooperstown, New York, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, where the Hawks played a game, is an experience he will always remember.
His grade-point average is currently 3.90 and when he does make a college decision, he plan on majoring in education with prospects of becoming a teacher.
Dave Marzano, of course, is the person who has most influenced him, not only because he is his dad, but also because he is willing to do anything to help his son.
“He’d drop everything to throw batting practice whenever I felt I needed it,” Zach Marzano said. “Frank [LoGuidice] has also helped me a lot. He is a polished lefthander and whether we’re playing pingpong, basketball, baseball, you name it, he’d always push me to get better. We are competitive with each other, but we just want our team to succeed.”
And that, ultimately, is what Zach Marzano desires more than anything else.