Bio
Zane Denton, a switch hitter, made his professional debut last season in the Pioneer League, seeing action with three different teams in 2025 following two stops in the Southeastern Conference. Denton began his college career at the University of Alabama before transferring to the University of Tennessee. In his only season to take the field for the Volunteers, he was part of a College World Series club that made it all the way to Omaha in 2023.
Denton began the 2025 season with Billings in the Pioneer League. In 21 games he hit .274 with 10 RBI before being placed on waivers on June 28. Northern Colorado/Colorado Springs claimed and singed Denton on July 3. He would go on to play in 49 games for Owls/Sky Sox, slashing a line of .319/.430/.543 with nine home runs and 37 RBI. The switch hitter would finish the 2025 season playing in four games with the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers, going 1-for-10 with an RBI during the final week of the season. Denton would play 74 games in the Pioneer League in 2025, putting up a slash line of .298/.408/.461 while launching nine long balls and knocking in 48 with 19 doubles.
In the summer of 2024 Denton played at Forest City of the Coastal Plain League, appearing in nine games. He did not play in 2024 after announcing his intention to transfer in June of 2024 to Austin Peay University. After the year off, Denton made his professional debut last season in the Pioneer League.
The 2023 season was an impressive campaign for Denton with the University of Tennessee. Denton claimed several key moments in Volunteer baseball history over the course of the season. In Tennessee’s regional matchup against Clemson, he hit two home runs, including a game-tying blast in the ninth inning to send the game to extra innings in a contest Tennessee would go on to win in 14 innings. In the regional final he hit another bomb in the Vols 9-2 win over Charlotte to punch a ticket to the Super Regionals. Denton then added to his legacy of being one of Tennessee’s top clutch postseason hitters in program history with a two-out, three-run homer to lengthen the lead to four during the Volunteers win over #9 Southern Mississippi to advance on to Omaha and the College World Series.
Denton played 66 games for Tennessee in 2023 slashing a line of .269/.403/.566 with 16 home runs and 59 RBI following his transfer from the University of Alabama. He finished third on the team in home runs and led the Vols in RBI on the season. He added three team-leading triples and finished second on the team in walks with 46. Denton would earn all SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll honors and was named to the 2023 NCAA Clemson All-Regional Team.
In 2022 Denton was the University of Alabama’s everyday third baseman, starting all 58 games for the Crimson Tide. He hit .263 with 12 doubles and 13 team-leading home runs with another team lead in RBI with 48 on the season. Denton slashed a line of .263/.337/.483 for Alabama and added 14 multi-RBI games over the course of the 2022 season. He would also be named to the SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll following the spring semester.
Denton started all 58 games for the Crimson Tide in 2021, starting 53 at third base and five at first. He would slash a line of .308/.405/.489 with 10 home runs and 40 RBI. Denton finished tied for second on the team in RBI and earned third in homers. He worked 35 team-leading walks during the season for Bama. Denton was second on the team with 14 multi-RBI games and had 21 multi-hit games, including a team-high 11 in SEC play.
In 2020, Denton made his Alabama debut on opening day against Northeastern, starting at third base and going 1-for-3 with an RBI and scoring a pair of runs. He would go on to play 13 games for the Crimson Tide, starting 11 games before the season was shut down due to the world-wide pandemic.
Denton attended Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, Tennessee where he was ranked the top third baseman in the state of Tennessee and the #5 overall player in the state. Baseball America tabbed Denton the #21 draft prospect in the state of Tennessee in 2019 and the 10th rated third baseman in the country. Denton played in the Little League World Series in 2013, and his brother Bryce played professionally in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.