Zachary Bird is a Mississippi boy, drafted in the 9th round in 2012 by the Los Angeles Dodgers out of high school in Jackson, Mississippi. The Dodgers sent him to their rookie league team in the Arizona League in his draft season where he made 10 starts, throwing 39 2/3 innings. In that time, he racked up a 4.54 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and 17/46 BB/K ratio and began drawing rave reviews for his raw stuff.
Bird moved up to Ogden of the advanced-rookie Pioneer League in 2013 to start the season, and he finished by moving up to Great Lakes of the Midwest League.