Notre Dame Fighting Irish pick up transfer bat from Quinnipiac
While the Notre Dame football and basketball teams start to prepare for the upcoming seasons, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team is staunchly in rebuild mode. The team is trying to make sure that the 2025 season doesn’t really look anything like the 2024 campaign.
One step in that direction, an attempt to be better than what they were this past year, is getting some more complete offensive players added to the roster. To that end, please welcome Quinnipiac grad transfer Jared Zimbardo.
Zimbardo announced on social media earlier this week that he’s joined the Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team. In doing so, the Irish definitely added a player that can help spark the offense and on the basepaths.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball adds stellar bat to roster
The 5-foot-11, 187-pounder outfielder was named second-team All-MAAC after a massive 2024 campaign. Zimbardo batted .353 in 50 starts while adding seven home runs, 16 doubles, 34 RBI and stole 26 bases.
So thankful for all the coaches that reached out to me! I also want to thank my coaches, family, friends, and mentors for all the help along the way. With that being said, I’m extremely excited to play my final year of college baseball at the University of Notre Dame. #GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/TRaZMDfDEb
— Jaredzimbo2 (@JaredZimbardo) June 20, 2024
While that power is only going to become less of an impact in the ACC, his speed and ability to string hits together will be effective no matter what team he was playing for. It’s also worth pointing out that Zimbardo seems to have really come into his own and he’s gotten better every year.
Still, the newest addition to Notre Dame baseball took a massive leap between his junior and senior seasons. In 2023, he hit just .278 and had 16 stolen bases. He did have 12 homeruns but it looks like in this past season, he exchanged his power for a better batting average.
Zimbardo will bring experience to the table as he’s played in 160 games (154 starts). Notre Dame is expected to return two key pieces to the outfield next season in DM Jefferson (95 games) and Brady Gumpf (92 games), who also have significant experience.
If you’re wanting to know what the Notre Dame Fighting Irish what to expect from Zimbardo, his former Quinnipiac teammate, Anthony Donofrio, transferred to North Carolina last season. Donofrio played in 60 games where he batted .325 with seven home runs, 45 RBI, 19 doubles and six triples for the Tar Heels in 2024.