Zinter played for the Arizona Wildcats baseball team, and in 1988 he played collegiate summer baseball with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[1] He was a 1st round draft choice (24th overall) by the New York Mets in 1989 as a catcher, but eventually moved to first base. He played in the minors for fourteen years, including one season in the Dominican winter league for the Cibao Giants in 1996 and one season in Japan for the Seibu Lions in 1999, before finally getting a call-up with the Houston Astros in 2002. His first hit was a home run off Scott Williamson and he batted .136 (6 for 44). In 2004, he earned another call-up with the Arizona Diamondbacks, doing slightly better hitting .206 (7 for 34).
In 2008, Zinter began his coaching career with the Rookie level Missoula Osprey in the Diamondbacks organization.[2] On December 2, 2008, Zinter was announced as the hitting coach for the High-A Visalia Rawhide.[3] After two seasons with Visalia, he was moved up to Double-A to be the hitting coach of the Mobile BayBears.[4] He was hired by the Indians to be their minor league hitting coordinator for the 2012 season.[5]
On November 4, 2014, Zinter was announced as the new assistant hitting coach for the Houston Astros by general manager Jeff Luhnow.[6] After the 2015 season, the San Diego Padres hired Zinter as their hitting coach.[7] On September 1, 2017, Zinter was fired by the Padres.[8] In 2018 and 2019, Zinter worked as the San Francisco Giants Assistant Director of Player Development, Offense.[9] On October 24, 2019, the Cincinnati Reds announced the hiring of Zinter as their hitting coach.[9][10] On October 6, 2022, the Reds announced that Zinter would not return for the 2023 season.[11]