Former Hopkinsville High School pitcher Zach Moss is no longer with the University of Kentucky baseball team and has enrolled at Florida Southwestern State College, a junior college in Fort Myers, Fla., where he will play this spring.
Moss, a 6-foot-5 right-handed pitcher, signed with the University of Kentucky in November of 2023, six months after having Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow.
The Tiger star came back and played first base and hit for the Tigers last year as they won the Region 2 championship and advanced to the KHSAA State Baseball Tournament. After the season, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky and played some last Fall for the Wildcats.
Moss’ mother, Jenny, said tendinitis in his pitching shoulder slowed down his pitching progression at Kentucky and the school released him from his scholarship after the Fall session.
“Zach obviously was disappointed, but he’s all about getting better,” Jenny Moss told WHOP. “This is the best option for him because the college rosters go from 40 to 34 next year and it’s going to get harder and harder to make these rosters. Florida Southwestern plays a ton of games. He should be able to pitch, graduate from Southwestern in a couple of years and then go back into the portal and possibly get back to Division I.”
After his release from Kentucky, Moss went into the portal and Jenny Moss said he talked to seven or eight schools.
“We talked to some schools closer up here but most of the schools already had set their pitching roster and Southwestern State hadn’t,” Jenny Moss said. “And, Zach wanted to be down in that region because they have so many schools down there. He had several options and just felt this was the best one.”
Zach Moss has not pitched in any games yet at Florida Southwestern State, but has seen some live pitching at Southwestern this spring.
“He says he feels good and the elbow is good,” Jenny Moss said. “He is expecting to get plenty of game time.”
Florida Southwestern State University Photo