Former Diamond Jack Donovan Zsak of Rutgers was drafted Monday by the Guardians.

Watching Donovan Zsak suffer not one, but two UCL injuries in high school, it would have been too easy to cast doubt about his future. Indeed, it would have been easy for Donovan himself to cash in his amateur baseball chips out of frustration.

But frustration, defeat and athletic depression were never part of Zsak’s impressive, if somewhat abbreviated, baseball resume.

Zsak’s journey from a precocious youth ball player in the Diamond Jacks program to an 8th round pick by the Cleveland Guardians in this week’s MLB Draft is not one for which many scouts, coaches or even he would prescribe.

But, with two Tommy John surgeries behind him and an upper-90s fastball in front of him, Zsak has taken control of his future and found a believer in the Guardians, who selected the St. Joseph (Met.) grad and Rutgers redshirt freshman 235th overall Monday on the second day of the MLB Draft.

“At the end of the season at Rutgers, I was hearing I’d be a later round pick, maybe the 15th-20th round,” said Zsak. There are only 20 rounds in the MLB Draft. “So I went up to play in the Cape to try to boost my stock.”

The much-respected Cape Cod League is a rite of summer in New England and a heavily-scouted amateur league loaded with college talent. It’s where an undrafted Mike Ford was signed as a free agent by the Yankees in 2013.

The All-Ivy League Ford, like Zsak, was a longtime Diamond Jack out of Diamond Nation. Ford starred as a two-way player at Princeton before shining on the big stage for a while with the Yankees. Ford, 32, has played most recently this season with the Reds but, as of this report, has signed with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Japanese Central League.

Zsak, a Scotch Plains resident, will receive a signing bonus of $222,000 from the Guardians, which is exactly the money allotted for that slot in the draft. That commitment by the Guardians shows they have little reservations about the soundness of Zsak’s elbow. Much of that has to do with Zsak’s performance at Rutgers and in the Cape. “They didn’t under-slot me,” he said. “What I did at Rutgers toward the end of the season and on the Cape really helped.”

It started at a meticulously constructed snail’s pace back in the pre- and early-season with the Scarlet Knights.

Strong performances at Rutgers and in the Cape Cod League elevated Donovan Zsak’s draft status.

“My build-up this year at Rutgers was crazy,” said Zsak about his head coach Seve Owens and pitching coach Brendan Monaghan taking it extremely slow with the 6-3, 200-pound lefty. “My first outing I got an out and they took me out. My second outing I got two outs and they took me out. Then I went a full inning before they began using me out of the pen once or twice a weekend.”

Eventually, Zsak — 3-1 with a 4.11 ERA, 39 strikeouts in 35 innings while permitting opponents a .186 batting average — elevated to a starting role the final four weekends of Rutgers’ Big Ten Conference schedule.

“We had a plan and it had some layers to it,” said Monaghan, who stepped down at the conclusion of the Scarlet Knights’ season to seek other career options. “Donovan was cleared to pitch right when the season started. He had gotten a full build up but not from a usage standpoint, so we had to figure where to put him in. At that point, he had no track record of performing in games.”

Zsak would get a few opportunities early and his performance earned him more innings.

“Toward the end of the season my velocity kept climbing,” said Zsak, who complements his electric fastball with a curveball and changeup. “I was sitting at about 93-96 and hit 98 and 99. I was at 98 in the Cape.”

That fastball has always been a trusted friend to Zsak. He was throwing in the low 90s in high school for crying out loud. But he had to rebuild his full repertoire on the fly at Rutgers this spring. “I had no feel for my off-speed stuff while I was getting back in the swing of things,” he said. “I was throwing 85 percent fastballs early in the season. I learned against Indiana, that doesn’t work too well.”

Zsak, who had a 33 percent miss rate on his fastball this spring, did pull his off-speed stuff together to become a complete pitcher again. He expects to add another weapon to that arsenal. “I know the first thing they’ll do when I get to rookie ball is have me develop a slider. I’ve played with it a little bit but I’ve never trusted it.”

While Zsak says his arm has never felt stronger or healthier, he admits the route he’s taken to professional ball has been loaded with potholes.

“I took a rough track with my injury history,” he said. “I lost a ton of playing time.” Zsak’s first surgery was Aug. 10, 2020 and his second surgery came on July 10, 2022, dates he has no trouble pulling from his memory bank.

He had pitched to a dominating 0.97 ERA in a reasonable 48 innings during his senior season at St. Joseph’s in ‘22 but felt his elbow just didn’t feel right toward the end of that campaign. Zsak was still committed to Virginia but, after suffering what he soon learned was his second UCL injury, the commitment by the ACC school suddenly went away. That’s when Rutgers stepped in.

“Once I had the second Tommy John surgery, Virginia told me they weren’t interested anymore,” said Zsak. “But coach Owens and coach Monaghan gave me an opportunity at Rutgers. They took a shot in the dark with me and it worked out pretty well.”

Donovan Zsak went from two Tommy John surgeries to 8th Rd. draft pick by Cleveland.

It would be hard for Rutgers to look any better than it did, walking one step at a time through its treatment of and commitment to Donovan Zsak.

“We understood the track record he had with the arm,” said Monaghan. “We knew the doctor he went to. We also knew he was a supreme talent. We saw him develop. We just laid it out for him, the opportunity he had, what to expect in the rehab setting and getting him into our building and learning our philosophy.”

The chance Rutgers had taken with Zsak struck a chord with the hard-throwing lefty, personally and athletically.

“I give all the credit in the world to Rutgers for what they did for me through the rehab and training process,” said Zsak. “My second rehab was so much better because you are working with professionals in college. It was a more rigorous and more effective process.”

When Zsak was finally able to take the mound this spring, his elbow was sound and his brain was keen on a future that started to come into focus.

He pitched 7.1 innings for the Bourne Braves on the Cape, allowing just two runs on one hit. He struck out 12 and limited opponents to a .043 batting average. “At that point, my advisor felt I had shown enough and I shut it down,” said Zsak.

He spent a week or so at home awaiting the draft and news he hoped would include his improved standing in the draft. He would receive a call from his advisor on Monday during Day 2 and the seventh round of the draft. “He said Cleveland was really interested and wanted to know if I’d accept their (offer) in the 8th round. Of course I said yes.”

Zsak had some contact with the Indians as a high school player but said he hadn’t heard much from the club during college. “They were really big on me in high school,” Zsak said. “I had a Zoom call with them in high school, so I was familiar with their staff. We did start talking again during the Cape season.”

Zsak had two other potential draft suitors. “I actually thought I may have had a shot with the Mets and Phillies,” he said. “I went to Citizens Bank Park a week before the draft and had a good workout. I thought they were my best shot.”

That said, Zsak still felt “a little in the dark” as the draft approached.

He was sitting in his living room with his dad, Don, and his older sister, Alexa (23), monitoring the draft when he received the call about Cleveland’s interest. Mom, Anna, was at work one-eying the MLB Draft Tracker, hoping to see her son’s name. Like Donovan on the mound, his family was all-in.

“Cleveland called me about 20 minutes after they picked me,” Zsak said a day after the biggest day of his life. “I’m waiting to hear shortly on the plan moving forward. It’ll be a quick turnaround. I’ll be in rookie ball soon, starting the journey.”

Monaghan has seen enough MLB drafts to know how hard they are to predict.

“I didn’t expect Donovan to go in the 8th round, though I knew it was possible,” Monaghan said. “While he lacked college experience, he’s a supreme talent who was on a lot of teams’ radar, so it’s hard to tell where it’s going. It was just a matter of a team seeing what we saw. He definitely warranted a selection in that spot.”

Zsak turned 21 on July 13, the day before the draft, making him draft-eligible just in time. Fortunately for Zsak, the MLB Draft was moved in 2021 from the first week of June to the second week of July.

Zsak will soon be bound for the Guardians’ minor league development facility in Arizona. “I’m waiting for the exact date,” he said. “We’ll see if they want me to continue throwing or if they’ll shut me down to prepare for winter workouts and instructional league. I’ve only pitched about 55 innings, so they may try to get me a few more innings.

Cleveland will decide the approach to take with Zsak, but another slow, careful build up wouldn’t be surprising.

“I would imagine they’d want to get him acclimated to the pro side of things, given his return,” said Monaghan. “He’ll get some time off to prepare for what’s ahead. I can see him flying through the system as a reliever, but that depends on what their plan is for him. I can also see them sending him out for three or four innings at a time to see what he’s got. I can see him pitching in the big leagues because of the fastball. His other stuff will be the indicator (of how far he goes).”

NOTES: It was a heck of a Draft week for Rutgers as four players were selected by MLB teams. Shortstop Josh Kuroda-Grauer (Franklin) turned back-to-back terrific seasons into his selection in the third round by Oakland. Lefthander Justin Sinibaldi, a Bridgewater-Raritan grad, was selected in the 14th round by the White Sox. Third baseman Tony Santa Maria (Atlantic County Tech) was plucked in the 19th round by Tampa Bay.

… A year ago, Rutgers’ Drew Conover, another longtime Diamond Jack, was picked in the 11th round by the A’s.

…Monaghan, 39, tendered his resignation at Rutgers at the end of the season. He’ll be hard to replace. An outstanding catcher at Wayne Hills High, St. John’s University and for three years in the Baltimore Orioles chain, Monaghan forged an impressive stay as Rutgers’ pitching coach the past five seasons. The team was 132-95, including a school-record 44 wins in 2022. He mentored seven All-Big Ten Conference pitchers and saw 10 pitchers drafted or signed by a major league franchise.