Getty Trevor Plouffe tells a funny story of a vacation interaction he had with Zack Greinke.
Zack Greinke has long been viewed as one of the most interesting and eccentric players in baseball, and yet another story of his personality is coming to light as the 40-year-old looks to pitch again in 2024.
Former MLB third baseman Trevor Plouffe is currently on a vacation where he happened to run into Greinke, as Plouffe explained on a January 24 episode of Jomboy Media’s Talkin’ Baseball show.
“Someone pointed it out to me and I said, I’m gonna go and say what’s up,” Plouffe said in reference to greeting Greinke on vacation at an undisclosed location.
“That’s such a recipe to get insulted,” quipped Talkin’ Baseball co-host Jimmy “Jomboy” O’Brien.
Plouffe introduced himself to Greinke, who responded by saying “Hey Trevor, you hit a homer once off me, didn’t you?” Plouffe, who hit 106 home runs during his nine-year career from 2010-2018, told Greinke that he didn’t think he ever hit a homer off him.
“He’s like no no, you did. We didn’t really get off that. He was kinda fixated on like, I hit a homer off of him,” Plouffe said on Talkin’ Baseball. It turns out, as Plouffe researched himself, he never hit a homer off Greinke and had just one hit in nine at bats.
“I saw [Greinke] again and by that time I had looked my stats up against him,” Plouffe said. “So I go hey Zack, just so you know–1 for 9, four strikeouts, no homers. He goes, ‘oh that’s right, you were easy,’” Greinke said to Plouffe.
“And then he turns and goes back to dinner with his family, and I said alright that’s it, that’s my interaction with you for the weekend. See ya later” Plouffe said. “If I had to go back in time and say how’s this conversation gonna go, it went exactly as how I probably should’ve thought.”
Teammates Have Gushed Over Zack Greinke’s Quirkiness
The Athletic has written several oral histories on Greinke, who the publication described in September 2022 as “a likely Hall of Fame pitcher and one of baseball’s great characters.”
“We’re in Texas and a couple of guys were playing cards before the game. They were talking about guys collecting stuff. (Dylan) Coleman asked if Greinke collects anything cool. And he was just like: “Got a bunch of houses.” Greinke’s former Royals teammate Nicky Lopez told The Athletic.
Among the dozens of other stories was from fellow Royals pitcher Brady Singer: “I said I’d Uber Eats something. He goes, “No, no, no. I’ve got a guy.” So he texted the guy and here comes all this food. I think he said he had received an order from Uber Eats and he liked the guy and he said: “Hey, can I hire you to just be my Uber Eats driver?” So he has his own Uber Eats driver. He has his own food guy,” Singer said of Greinke.
Greinke Plans to Pitch Again in 2024: Report
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported on December 12 that “Greinke’s representatives have communicated to MLB teams that he’s preparing to pitch in 2024 and is open to contract talks.”
Greinke is just 21 strikeouts away from reaching the 3,000 career milestone. The 40-year-old right-hander struggled with the Royals last season, recording a 5.06 ERA over 142.1 innings. He is viewed as a surefire future Hall of Famer, with a current career record of 225-156 with a 3.49 ERA in 3,389 innings pitches and won the 2009 Cy Young Award in the American League.