Zach Guth Shares Ongoing Journey in Baseball

| December 20, 2021

ERIE, Pa. (EYT) – For Franklin, Pa. native Zach Guth, the game of baseball is something he hopes to turn into his life’s work.

(Pictured above: The flame-throwing southpaw Zach Guth gets ready to deliver a pitch in his Harford Community College days. Photo submitted.)

After three years of college baseball between the University of Maryland and Harford Community College, he spent two seasons as a minor leaguer with the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies organizations.

Now, he’s moved on to the next chapter as a scout for Prep Baseball Report (PBR Baseball). After a little over a year as an Advanced Scout that helped to scout high school and prep baseball players from all over the state of Pennsylvania, he earned the opportunity to become the Assistant Scouting Director beginning in November 2021.

“PBR changed my life by helping me get introduced to college baseball when I was in high school,” Guth said. “Now, I can give back to the people and players that helped me. Getting recruited was a lot of fun for me, and now I get to have a helping hand for players and coaches.”

According to the PBR website, the business began in 2005 and has mushroomed into one of the largest and most highly respected amateur baseball scouting services. The goal of PBR is to help young people reach their dreams of getting to the college level to continue their college baseball careers.

Back in his high school days, Guth attended tournaments and showcases that helped set him apart in order to earn various Division I scholarship offers. Ultimately, the 2015 Franklin Area High graduate played baseball in the Big Ten Conference at the University of Maryland.

“Originally, I was committed to Indiana University when Tracy Smith was still coaching. Once he moved on to Arizona State, I decommitted and received a scholarship offer from Arizona State after that. However, I didn’t want to go the entire way across the country to play.”

It did not take Guth long to find another school, as the University of Maryland came into the equation only a week after he decommitted from Indiana. He was noticed by the Terrapins while playing in a World Wood Bat Association (WWBA) Perfect Game Tournament. He gave his verbal that weekend and would spend two years with the University of Maryland overall.

His high school career with the Franklin Knights concluded with him being ranked the eighth-best prospect in the state of Pennsylvania for the Class of 2015. This after being named All-Region as a pitcher and outfielder that same year. He could fan 108 batters in the 2014 season, was tabbed as the Erie Times News Player of the Year and his Region’s Player of the Year, and he earned Perfect Game Underclass All-American High Honorable Mention honors during his time as a Knight.

“High school baseball was some of the best times of my career,” Guth said. “There are so many people to thank for the success I had in high school,” said the Venango County product.

At Maryland, he would end up becoming a relief pitcher for the first time in his career before missing most of his sophomore season because of an elbow injury that required him to redshirt. After this, Guth decided if he wanted to achieve his goal of playing as a professional, he needed to speed up this process. Harford Community College was a nearby option that would allow him to move back to becoming a starter and showcase his flame-throwing left arm.

His lone year as a Fighting Owl saw him pitch 49 innings and strike out 65 batters. He was hitting in the upper 90s at points and this is when some of the professional scouts really took notice. His 2018 campaign at Harford resulted in Guth being an important part of the program winning a Region 20 title with the highlight of his baseball career happening not long after as the Atlanta Braves organization selected him in the 2018 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft in the 26th round.

“I can’t thank my Head Coach at Harford Tom Eller enough for taking a chance on me. When I left Maryland, it was in the summer going into my third year of college. One of my teammates my first year at Maryland helped me reach out to Coach Eller, and that did not just help me become a professional, but it introduced me to some of my closest friends and favorite people to this day.”

Guth had earned an opportunity to return to Division I baseball via the University of Houston for the 2019 season, but the scholarship offer he forwent after hearing his name called by the Braves in the summer of 2018. Due to transfer credits, Guth earned an associate’s degree in general studies with a focus in kinesiology. These credits would come in handy, as finishing a bachelor’s degree was something he still planned to do in the future.

In June 2018, Guth reported to the Danville Braves of the Appalachian League, an organization that competes in Rookie ball. He picked up three victories in his first professional season, but his time with the Braves would not last much longer. His 2019 season began in the Gulf Coast League with the Gulf Coast League Braves. However, he was cut partway into the season and the Colorado Rockies gave him an opportunity to continue his career that same year.

He reported to the Grand Junction Rockies of the Pioneer League, but his time there came to a premature end as well. He finished out the 2019 season, but in 2020, Guth was a part of cuts made by the Colorado Rockies because of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing the Minor League Baseball season to be cancelled in 2020. While he attempted a comeback in various parts of 2020, he decided it was time to walk away and begin the next part of his baseball journey.

This journey was with PBR Baseball after reconnecting with one of his mentors, Greg Williams, who played an important role in his travel baseball career and helping him reach the college level.

“Greg Williams and the Williams family overall are people I credit so much for my success,” said Guth. “They asked me to join a travel team, and I even lived with them for part of a summer. I went to many PBR events with their family and was lucky to join the Keystone Bombers team, which helped give me my first taste of travel ball.”

After reconnecting with the Williams family, he met his current boss, Dan Cevette, who allowed him to join the PBR Pennsylvania operations in the fall of 2020. Stepping away as a player allowed him to finish his bachelor’s degree with this time, his focus being in the business world.

He is currently enrolled at Arizona State University and is studying to complete a degree in Supply Chain Management. He hopes that with an advanced business background, it will allow him to stay involved in the game of baseball for many years to come.

“Baseball is a really relaxed industry to me most times,” Guth explained. “PBR allows me to work at my pace, from home sometimes, and not be stuck in the same nine to five schedule. I enjoy the grind of putting on showcases for players looking to play at the next level and sharing the knowledge I have with others.” 

Through his journey, he credits his parents Gretchen and Doug, and younger brother, Luke, a Vanderbilt University baseball recruit, for being the most supportive foundation to him in his playing career, and now scouting and mentoring days in baseball.

Now that his baseball playing days are past him, he’s doing his best to grow a game that changed his life for the better. He brings expert knowledge and fresh perspective to PBR to help young people make the best decision for their future. PBR Baseball changed his life for the better, and now he is using his relatively new opportunity to help improve the lives of college-bound baseball players from Pennsylvania.


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