Zach Neto: 3 things to know about the Campbell baseball shortstop
Zach Neto came to Buies Creek from Miami in 2019, leaving a big city for a rural North Carolina township just in time for a global pandemic.
He made three appearances for the Fighting Camels in a COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, but as a redshirt freshman last year, Neto won national attention as the Big South Conference Player of the Year. He followed that up with a strong performance in the Starkville Regional as the Camels gave eventual NCAA champion Mississippi State a battle before falling 6-5 with the tying run stranded on third base.
This season, Neto won a second straight conference player of the year award with the Big South's highest batting average at .394, and he had a 29-game hitting streak.
His name's been tossed around the Knoxville Regional plenty as Campbell continues to impress baseball fans who aren't accustomed to hearing about the mid-major with the Roll Humps battle cry.
Here are some more things to know about Campbell shortstop Zach Neto.
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Zach Neto is a projected first-round pick in the MLB Draft
Neto is the No. 25-ranked draft prospect on MLB.com, and several mock drafts have him listed as a first-round pick.
Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com has Neto going 18th overall to the Cincinnati Reds.
Kiley McDaniel, an ESPN MLB Insider, predicts the Seattle Mariners will select Neto at No. 21, but he says the slugging shortstop "is in play as high as the seventh pick to the Cubs and figures to go by the Jays at 23."
The Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter has Neto landing at No. 13 with the Los Angeles Angels, citing the sophomore's "more advanced approach at the plate."
He went to the same high school as Jose Canseco (and Pitbull)
Neto graduated from Miami Coral Park High School in 2019, 37 years after Jose Canseco and his twin brother, Ozzie.
Jose Canseco would go on to win MLB Rookie of the Year (1986) and MVP (1988) awards, along with a pair of World Series titles (Oakland A's in 1989 and NY Yankees in 2000).
But Canseco's career coincided with baseball's steroids era and he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during his pro career, tainting his lofty numbers.
Grammy Award-winning musician Armando Christian Perez, aka Pitbull, is also a Miami Coral Park alum. He's sold more than 25 million albums worldwide and he's co-owner of a NASCAR team.
The public secondary school boasts alums from Broadway to government to the NFL and beyond.
Former PepsiCo CEO Steven Reinemund is a Ram; so are "Top Gun: Maverick" actor Danny Ramirez, Texas A&M University president Elsa Murano and crime-drama television show veteran Danny Pino.
He pitches, too
In his stellar freshman season, Neto made starts at short, first, second, third and on the mound.
He went 4-0 with a 3.43 ERA in 11 appearances, striking out 16 batters in 21 innings pitched.
Neto's made four appearances this season, going 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA and picking up three saves — most recently in an 11-8 win over USC Upstate that sent the Camels to the Big South championship series where they swept two games against Charleston Southern to win their third league tournament title in four seasons.
In the nightcap of a two-game day for Campbell, Neto gave up one hit and no runs while striking out three in 1.2 innings against the Spartans and send the Fighting Camels to championship Saturday.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Zach Neto: Facts on Campbell baseball's MLB Draft first-round prospect
