BIOGRAPHY
Zachary McKinstry was born April 29, 1995, in Toledo, Ohio. He is a second baseman in the MLB.
The Los Angeles Dodgers selected McKinstry in the 33rd round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft and signed with the team on July 8. After beginning his career by playing four games with the Arizona League Dodgers, he was promoted to the Great Lakes Loons of the Class-A Midwest League, near where he attended college. He hit .261 in 41 games for the Loons and helped them win the league championship. In 2017, he played 17 games for Great Lakes, 82 for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, and 15 for the Tulsa Drillers. Overall, he had a .239 batting average. He returned to the Loons to start 2018, but maintained a positive attitude about the demotion and improved his batting average and his walk ratio.
McKinstry made his MLB debut as a pinch hitter against the San Diego Padres His first major league hit was a double to left field off of Antonio Senzatela of the Colorado Rockies on September 20. He appeared in four games, with two hits in seven at-bats in 2020.
On April 3, 2021, McKinstry hit his first career major league home run, in the top of the eighth inning off of Rockies pitcher Mychal Givens. It was an inside-the-park homer when the ball deflected off the glove of Raimel Tapia as he kept the ball from going over the fence, but thought the ball went over the fence letting McKinstry circle the bases. He appeared in 60 games for Los Angeles, with a .215 batting average, seven homers and 29 RBI. He also played in 40 games for Oklahoma City, hitting .272.
On March 27, 2023, McKinstry was traded to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Carlos Guzman.
