Baseball was Ryan Zuckerman’s ‘first passion.’ Now, he’s helping lead Georgia Tech to the postseason

Ryan Zuckerman went from spending birthdays at Citizens Bank Park and collecting baseball cards of MVPs like Ryan Howard to being an MVP himself.

The 21-year-old Yardley native is competing in the NCAA Regionals with Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets took down North Carolina for the ACC crown, and Zuckerman was awarded MVP after hitting his 23rd home run of the season. However, the third baseman hasn’t had much time to celebrate, as he’s focused on the next round.

Georgia Tech (48-9) faces University of Illinois Chicago (27-27-1) on Friday in Atlanta on Friday (noon, ACC Network). The team is ranked second in the country by D1Baseball.com, and Zuckerman, who’s batting a .350 with a 1.202 OPS, is key to that success.

“This team plays the best when the lights are the brightest,” Zuckerman said. “So for now, it’s going to the championships, and then after that, getting ready for professional baseball and getting up to the big leagues.”

Zuckerman’s love for baseball started at age 3. He began with T-ball and Little League, then turned to travel ball.

“Baseball is always that first passion I had,” Zuckerman said. “I stuck with that and just continued it for the rest of my life. … I still have that same love for the game.”

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Zuckerman transformed into an elite prospect with the help of several mentors, including one of his first coaches, his father. He was considered the No. 1 third baseman and No. 22 overall player in the state while starring at Pennsbury High School.

“A friend of mine said to me when he was playing Little League, ‘You know, he’s different,’” Andrew Zuckerman, his dad, said. “As a parent, I’m like, ‘Every kid’s different.’ … But it’s very surreal, what he’s doing right now. We’re more than proud, beyond proud.”

Ryan Zuckerman grew up a Philly sports fan. His dad even let him skip school to see the Phillies play in the 2008 World Series, which he says helped inspire his own baseball career.

“I remember before every Little League game I would play, I would watch the 2008 [Phillies] highlights of the World Series,” Zuckerman said. “Guys like Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, that whole team was my childhood, and now being on a stage where we have guys on the team who have hit with Ryan Howard or have talked to Jimmy Rollins, it’s so cool to just finally be in the position where it’s coming to life.”

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As a junior in high school, Zuckerman committed to Pittsburgh. He spent two seasons with the Panthers, where he batted .267 in 50 games (49 starts) as a freshman. He improved to .295 with 13 homers in 2025.

He transferred to Georgia Tech for his junior season. The Yellow Jackets recorded their best season in 106 years, tied an ACC record with 25 conference wins, and won a second straight conference championship.

“We’re working to perfect our craft and make it so we can play our brand of baseball every single day,” Zuckerman said. “We know when we step out on that field, we’re playing GT baseball — there’s no one in the country that can hang with us.”

But no matter how big the stage gets, he is reminded of his roots.

“I think how you are on and off the field really helps a lot of situations,” he said. “Something my parents have emphasized to me since I was a young kid is there’s never a moment where you shouldn’t do the right thing or go out of your way to help a teammate.”

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Longtime Pennsbury baseball coach Joe Pesci has tried to instill those values in the players who have come through his program and gone to play baseball at a higher level.

“It’s really easy when you have incredibly athletic and talented kids like Ryan,” Pesci said. “We’ve had quite a bit of success, several kids that were going to go Division I, so I think part of it is we’re not pretending we created Ryan Zuckerman. We got to be part of that, and our job is to prepare them for the next level.”

Zuckerman will have his hometown support behind him in Georgia Tech’s postseason run. Andrew Zuckerman said family members and lifelong baseball friends have hosted watch parties for Ryan over the past couple of weekends.

Ryan, however, wants to enjoy the moment.

“As a kid, I wished I was in this position, so I’m going to take advantage of it,” Zuckerman said.