Alan Michael Zinter (born May 19, 1968 in El Paso, Texas) is a former professional baseball player. He briefly played in Major League Baseball 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 is currently the minor league hitting coordinator for the Cleveland Indians.

Zinter was a 1st round draft choice (24th overall) 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 (6 for 44). In 2004, he earned another call-up with the Arizona Diamondbacks, doing slightly better hitting .206 (7 for 34).

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.^[1] On December 2, 2008, Zinter was announced as the hitting coach for the High-A Visalia Rawhide.^[2] 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.^[3]

On November 4, 2014, Zinter was announced as the new assistant hitting coach for the Houston Astros by general manager Jeff Luhnow.^[4]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)