Alan Zinter


Alan Michael Zinter is an American former professional baseball player and current hitting coach for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball. He played in MLB in 2002 and 2004 with the Houston Astros and the Arizona Diamondbacks, and played in Nippon Professional Baseball in 1999 with the Seibu Lions. He served as the minor league hitting coordinator for the Cleveland Indians, the assistant hitting coach for the Astros, and was former the hitting coach of the San Diego Padres.

Career

Zinter played collegiately for the University of Arizona, and in 1988 he played collegiate summer baseball with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League. He was a 1st round draft choice by the New York Mets in 1989 as a catcher, but eventually moved to first base. He played in the minors for fourteen years, including one season in the Dominican winter league for the Cibao Giants in 1996 and one season in Japan for the Seibu Lions in 1999, before finally getting a call-up with the Houston Astros in 2002. His first hit was a home run off Scott Williamson and he batted.136. In 2004, he earned another call-up with the Arizona Diamondbacks, doing slightly better hitting.206.
Zinter played in 2006 with the Round Rock Express, the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, but mostly as a pinch hitter and a defensive replacement. In 2007, Zinter played for the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League.
In 2008, Zinter began his coaching career with the Rookie level Missoula Osprey in the Diamondbacks organization. On December 2, 2008, Zinter was announced as the hitting coach for the High-A Visalia Rawhide. After two seasons with Visalia, he was moved up to Double-A to be the hitting coach of the Mobile BayBears. He was hired by the Indians to be their minor league hitting coordinator for the 2012 season.

San Diego Padres

On November 4, 2014, Zinter was announced as the new assistant hitting coach for the Houston Astros by general manager Jeff Luhnow. After the 2015 season, the San Diego Padres hired Zinter as their hitting coach. On September 1, 2017, Zinter was fired by the Padres.

San Francisco Giants

In 2018 and 2019, Zinter worked as the San Francisco Giants Assistant Director of Player Development, Offense.

Cincinnati Reds

On October 24, 2019, the Cincinnati Reds announced the hiring of Zinter as their hitting coach.