Zaleski finding ‘joy’ as Class A pitching coach

CHICAGO — Matt Zaleski has a wonderful life, thanks to baseball. But some might look at Zaleski’s career trajectory and think otherwise.

Zaleski was selected out of Indiana State by the White Sox in the 30th round of the 2004 MLB Draft and spent the next 11 seasons pitching in the Minors. Zaleski made 316 appearances, of which 110 were starts, for Rookie-level Great Falls, Class A Kannapolis, Class A Advanced Winston-Salem, Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte. He also spent parts of six seasons with the Knights as part of the International League.

But this Minor League journey without a callup to the bigs ultimately shaped Zaleski for his current job as pitching coach with Kannapolis within the White Sox system.

“I was a good pitcher, but I probably lacked stuff that gets most guys to the big leagues. I knew that. I was real with myself. I was just happy to be able to continue to put on a jersey and keep playing,” Zaleski said. “The knowledge I learned from my pitching coaches — Dot [Richard Dotson], J.R. Perdew, the list goes on.

“[Bobby] Thigpen, [Brian] Drahman, …

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