Before Zach McKinstry’s on-field surge, there was off-field perspective
DETROIT — Zach McKinstry was in college, during the thick of a summer playing in the Northwoods League, when the blaze burned.
“You play like 72 games in 75 days,” McKinstry said. “No off days. You don’t really know the cities you’re going to because you’ve never heard of them.
“Then you get a phone call.”
McKinstry’s Waterloo Bucks were playing way up in Canada when the phone started buzzing. His limited cell plan meant not all the messages were coming through. He didn’t fully know what was going on, and initially, he had no way to respond. The buzzes kept coming. By the time he connected to the internet, he had more than a hundred calls and texts from friends and family.
He finally learned the news. McKinstry’s childhood home in Fort Wayne, Ind., had burned to the ground. His parents were not home, and no one was hurt. But the family lost three dogs and two cats. Trophies, pictures and a lifetime of memories, all gone in an instant.
“My parents, their life was pretty uprooted,” McKinstry said. “You’re living in this house every day. Now it’s burned down.”
Somewhere in that blur of days came a lesson, even if it took years to see it clearly. When McKinstry was in middle school, his parents took in family friends who had a housing issue of their own. When McKinstry’s house burned down, his parents stayed with that same family while searching for a place to rent. People all across Fort Wayne, many of them friends from the local sports community, pitched in to help the family recover and start anew.
McKinstry looks back and sees the importance and power found in community. And in his story, this is all intertwined. McKinstry’s baseball life has been filled with adversity: twice traded, virtually cast aside, enduring slumps and having his love for the game put to the test.
It was two spring trainings ago when McKinstry showed up talking about his faith, his offseason baptism, his now-wife and all the ways his life off the field has changed.
These days McKinstry is thriving for a first-place Tigers team. Tuesday, the MLBPA’s Players Trust announced McKinstry as its first Most Valuable Philanthropist of 2025.
The honor is given out six times throughout the season to players who display “altruistic spirit and positive social impact.” It comes with a $10,000 grant toward McKinstry’s charitable work.
McKinstry just so happened to receive this recognition on the morning of his 30th birthday. It’s an important component in understanding McKinstry and what drives him. It’s another reminder of how far he has come.
Said Tigers outfielder Kerry Carpenter, “He’s one of those guys you just want to root for.”
McKinstry will be the first to admit it. A few years ago, he was like many young people. Focused on his career. Not worried about much outside his immediate purview.
“I was always kind of self-serving,” he said.
But the more he focused on baseball, the deeper his struggles became. His self-talk turned negative. He questioned whether he was good enough. He almost started to believe he wasn’t.
There was not one singular moment that turned his attitude or altered his mindset. It was instead a series of small steps.
When the Indiana kid and Central Michigan alum moved to Arizona for spring training with the Dodgers — McKinstry was a 33rd-round draft pick in 2016 — he got involved with a local Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter. He also reconnected with Jeff Simpson, a former coach of McKinstry’s in Indiana. Jeff and his wife, Kate, had since moved to Arizona. As Jeff searched for his calling, he eventually found purpose in one of his passions: barbecue.
In 2015, Jeff and Kate founded BBQ Mission, a non-profit devoted to feeding people experiencing homelessness in the Phoenix area. The organization goes beyond handing out water bottles or sandwiches. It aims to create a backyard barbecue atmosphere. There are cards with scripture on the tables. Prayer requests are taken and the group aims to spread its Christian faith, too.
“We did this for nine years with no pay, and it’s the best job I’ve ever had in my entire life,” Jeff said.
Jeff and McKinstry started talking. They golfed together. And then McKinstry started coming out to help with BBQ Mission. One visit became two. Eventually, McKinstry became a fixture at BBQ Mission’s weekly get-togethers, stacking barbecue on plates and handing out meals.
“He just wants to roll up his sleeves and serve shoulder-to-shoulder with everybody else,” Kate said. “He’s willing to talk about baseball if one of our patrons wants to talk about baseball. But mostly he’s just there to give back.”
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The Detroit Tigers were the surprise team of the 2024 season. And in 2025, they are the surprise team all over again, but for different reasons.
Last year, the Tigers staged a stunning late-season run, coming back from two games under .500 and 9 1/2 games out of a playoff spot on August 22 to storm into the playoffs, winning 15 of their final 19 games.
This year, the Tigers are off to an unexpectedly torrid start. In fact, for the first time since 2006, Detroit has the best record in the Major Leagues through the first 50 games of the season. At 33-17, a .660 winning percentage, the Tigers lead the American League Central by five games over the Minnesota Twins.
