Zach Wright drafted by Angels

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on June 6, 2012 1:48 PM

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GREENVILLE -- Zach Wright was getting a little nervous.

The Major League Baseball First-Year draft was in the 12th round and the East Carolina catcher's name was still on the board. That is when his phone blew up with congratulatory messages.

Wright had been drafted by the Anaheim Angels.

"I am so happy to be a part of the Angels organization," Wright said. "I was on the way to meet my parents for dinner and my phone went off. One of my buddies was watching the draft online and saw my name."

Wright was not watching himself because he was admittedly tired of sitting in front of his computer. The second through 15th rounds of the draft were held Tuesday, a process that took over eight hours to complete.

"I will be honest, I was nervous," Wright said. "And I got fed up watching the names come up and not seeing my name. By the time the 10th round ended I was done watching."

The Johnny Bench Award finalist was selected in the sixth round in 2011 by the Philadelphia Phillies. Instead of going pro right away, Wright decided to finish his degree at ECU and play out his final season.

"That was an incredibly tough decision," Wright said. "To choose between a degree and the dream of playing pro baseball was something that I agonized over."

There will be no such worries this time around.

Wright's career in Greenville is over and his professional career is soon to begin. Over the coming week he will sort through his contract options and find out to which minor league team he will be assigned.

Some of the possibilities include the Arizona Angels of the Arizona League, the Orem Owls of the Pioneer League or the Cedar Rapids Kernels of the Midwest League.

"It's been a whirlwind of emotions over the past three days," Wright said. "I played my last game as a Pirate, got drafted and will hopefully have a new place to play in the next few days. I'm ready to get back out there."