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Trading places For the second time since he was drafted in 2016, Bishop Eustace Prep alum Zac Gallen was traded last month. But after making his big league debut two months ago, his stock is on the rise. By RYAN LAWRENCE Sports Editor
SARAH SACHS/Arizona Diamondbacks
Life can be hectic for professional baseball players who haven’t made the jump from a minor league world spent traveling on buses all across the country to one riding in team charter planes with multimillionaires in the majors. But it can be a little crazy at the big league level, too, particularly when you have to make quick mental notes to remind yourself what color undershirt to wear underneath your uniform. Zac Gallen, a 2013 Bishop Eustace Preparatory School graduate and a Gibbsboro native who still calls the
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town home in the winter, has lived both of these lives this summer. He made the thankless bus trips during the first part of the baseball season as a rising Miami Marlins pitching prospect, and now he’s in the big leagues as a promising rookie starter for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Gallen, who was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the third round of the 2016 MLB Draft, spoke with South Jersey Sports Weekly after making his Diamondbacks debut against his hometown team, the Phillies, a couple of weeks ago. South Jersey Sports Weekly: I saw you nearly made your MLB debut against the Phillies, being called up a day before the Marlins arrived to Citizens Bank Park. But
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www.southjerseysportsweekly.com I guess having it against the Cardinals (on June 20) worked out alright? Zac Gallen: I’m kind of glad it was in St. Louis, because (if it was Philly) it would just have been so much going on, having my debut in Philly. So I think it worked out perfectly. I grew up a Cardinals fan and then got drafted by the Cardinals, I was pretty pumped to make my debut in St. Louis. I thought I’d be wearing a Cardinals jersey but I got there one way or another. It was still cool to make it in Busch Stadium against the Cardinals, kind of a, you know, a look-what-you-couldhave-had kind of deal. I thought it was fun. You kind of have that chip on your shoulder. It’s still the big league (debut) so you have that chip to want to prove you belong, but even more so against a team that traded you. SJSW: And now you have two teams that have created that chip, the Cardinals and Marlins. (The Cardinals traded him in a deal that brought them Marcell Ozuna two winters ago). Gallen: I know, right? [laughs] SJSW: These last two months must have been pretty hectic, getting the big league call-up one month and getting traded the next month. Gallen: This game is ever-changing and you can’t lose sight that it’s a business, these things happen. Teams have different needs so I 100 percent understood both moves. But please see GALLEN, page 3