Houston’s Zach Dezenzo Wants To Mix Power With Contact

Zach Dezenzo could play an important role for the Astros this year. The 24-year-old projects to be a “viable third baseman,” as Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice wrote in Dezenzo’s prospect report in June, but depending on how Houston’s roster comes together — an Alex Bregman return remains a possibility — Dezenzo could also be used in left field. Indeed, at Astros FanFest on Saturday, manager Joe Espada said Dezenzo will get a lot of reps in left field during spring training.

Regardless of where he is stationed defensively, extra-base oomph will be the righty-hitting Dezenzo’s calling card. A 12th-round pick in 2022 out of Ohio State University, Dezenzo has 70-grade raw power that he is still learning to tap into in games (55 FV game power), according to our prospect team. Last season, he posted a 131 wRC+ between Double-A Corpus Christi and Triple-A Sugar Land. He made his big league debut in early August and was optioned a month later before getting called up again just before the end of the regular season. During his 19 major league games, he went deep twice while slashing .242/.277/.371 (84 wRC+) over 65 plate appearances.

Dezenzo discussed his development as a hitter when the Astros visited Fenway Park in August.

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David Laurila: You didn’t get drafted your junior year, despite solid numbers [including a .933 OPS]. Why was that?

Zach Dezenzo: “Good question. I put together a pretty strong freshman season at Ohio State [in 2019] — freshman All-American honors — then the COVID season obviously got cut short. My junior year, I hit .302 with nine home runs, although we only played 42 games. I knew I was good, but I’m not sure that I did enough to raise many scouts’ attention. That’s probably kind of where I was at, needing one more year to show what I was truly capable of. But that’s OK. It all worked out perfectly fine.”

Laurila: You must have drawn some attention as a junior…

Dezenzo: “I did have some. The Astros were actually interested — they were probably the number one team in contact with me — so yes, there was definitely interest. It just didn’t pan out the way I wanted it to.”

Laurila: Jumping to your hitting profile, how does it now compare to when you signed? Are you mostly the same guy in the box?

Dezenzo: “Mechanically, there are some similar parts to my swing, but I’ve definitely quieted some things down. If you go back and look at my swing when I signed out of college, I was pretty open in the box with my setup. I also had a really big leg kick. I still have a leg kick, but it’s not as big as it used to be. The main focus there was to simplify my move, and my swing, so that I’m giving myself the best chance to put the barrel on the ball.”

Laurila: When did you make that adjustment?

Dezenzo: “It was the offseason after my first year — the year I got drafted. I did it working with my head coach from college, back home in Columbus. Matt Angle is his name. We were in the cage, dissecting the move, dissecting different stuff on video, a few times a week. I credit a lot of my improvement to him. I also credit the Astros for bringing it to my attention, and making sure that I was making the adjustments I needed to make.”

Laurila: Did you change your swing at all, or just the mechanics to get to it?

Dezenzo: “The bat path is similar, but the way I gather — the way I move prior to my swing — changed. That’s the biggest adjustment I made.”

Laurila: Are you a power hitter?

Dezenzo: “Yeah, I am. I think my ability to drive the ball to all fields is kind of what got me drafted. There’s my frame, obviously. I provide a little bit of natural power in that sense. But really, what I’m working on is being an overall more complete hitter. The contact aspect is important for me. I want to be mixing the power with contact.”

Laurila: How are you going about balancing the two?

Dezenzo: “I made the adjustments with my swing in order to increase my contact percentage. Again, I’ve tried to condense things, quiet things down, and be as simple as possible. Ensuring that I still have the power is about picking and choosing my spots. It’s choosing the counts when I look to hammer a fastball, or get the head out on an offspeed pitch. Picking and choosing those times is important. That way I’m not always selling out for one pitch throughout the whole game.

“Letting the ball travel has kind of always been my thought process. I’ve always been a backside, line drive type of hitter. Having that approach, where I’m trying to drive fastballs to the right-center field gap, allows me to stay back and be on time for offspeed pitches that are in the zone. A lot of my power is that way. Coming out of college, the majority of my home runs were from the batter’s eye to right field. But I’ve slowly been learning to get to the pull side a little more. That’s a credit to the Astros’ development team. My hitting coaches here have been working with me on that. Guys at this level are pitching me in a little more often, and I’m trying to work on my weaknesses as much as I can”

Laurila: I’ve read that you tend to get beat on elevated heaters. Do you agree with that assessment?

Dezenzo: “In the past, I would have agreed with it. I handle the top of the zone a lot better now than I used to. But yeah, coming out of college that was definitely a weakness for me.”

Laurila: I noticed that you hit a lot better in Triple-A [a 149 wRC+ in 113 PAs] than you did in Double-A [a 93 wRC+ in 91 PAs] this past season. Why do you think that was?

Dezenzo: “Double-A was a period where I was trying to get back on my feet after rehabbing [a wrist injury] for the first couple of months. Even so, the underlying data were actually still there. I was hitting balls hard, but a lot of them were hit right at people, so the average and home runs don’t tell the whole story. It’s all about trusting the process. If you hit the ball hard consistently, good things are going to happen.”

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