Zachary Thomas Duke (born April 19, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners, and Cincinnati Reds. Playing career Pittsburgh Pirates Duke was drafted directly out of Midway High School in Waco, Texas, in the 20th round of the 2001 draft, and began his career the following year with the Pirates' rookie level Gulf Coast League team. He spent 2003 with the low-A Hickory Crawdads. In 2004, Duke led all minor league pitchers with a 1.46 earned run average (24 earned runs in 148.1 innings pitched). He posted a 15–6 record in 26 combined starts between Class-A Lynchburg and Double-A Altoona, and his 15 wins tied for third-most among all minor league pitchers. Following the 2004 season, Duke was named Pittsburgh's Minor League Pitcher-of-the-Year and earned Carolina League Pitcher-of-the-Year honors. He was selected by Baseball America as the sixth-best prospect in the Eastern League, and the best pitching prospect (fourth-best prospect overall) in the Carolina League. He was also recognized by the publication as having the best breaking pitch in the league. Duke made his major league debut on July 2, 2005, against the Milwaukee Brewers, striking out nine and receiving a no-decision in the Pirates 5–3 loss. His nine strikeouts were the most by a Pirate making his MLB debut since Tim Wakefield on July 31, 1992. Duke's debut month in July 2005 included a 3–0 shutout victory against Greg Maddux and the Cubs on July 16 and 22 consecutive scoreless innings from July 2 to 21. He was named National League Rookie of the month for July while compiling a 0.87 ERA, the best among all starting pitchers in the Major Leagues. He became only the second Pittsburgh rookie to win his first 5 decisions, along with Whitey Glazner. He also became one of only four pitchers during the Live-ball era to record an ERA below 1.00 in their first six starts (the others being Fernando Valenzuela, Boo Ferriss, and Steve Rogers). Duke finished 2005 with an 8–2 record in 14 starts, striking out 58 in 84.2 innings. He finished in fifth place in the Rookie of the Year voting, garnering 10% of the vote. Duke's first full season with the Pirates in 2006 was as the new team ace, anchoring a