When I was a wee babe, I wanted nothing more than a Sega Genesis for Christmas. Sonic the Hedgehog was making the money-spending masses forget about the vaguely racist Italian plumbing brothers and Altered Beast looked like the coolest thing I had ever seen in my young life. My parents rarely let me devour television programming and they were definitely against video games in general. But for some reason, that holiday season, they seemed to be playing at something. Maybe I was just dumb as a child (as most of them seem to be) and was reading them all wrong, but their responses to my desperate pleas, smelled of thinly-veiled excitement at my cries. I began to get excited as I talked myself into the fact that I was definitely getting to take control of Sonic and go ring grabbing on Christmas day. The morning of the 25th arrived, and after not sleeping a wink, I dragged my bleary eyed parents out of bed as early as they would allow and we convened around the beautiful gift toting tree covered in lights. There was a package with my name on it. It was right size. The moment had come! I was about to be unleashed upon the glorious 16-bit landscape of the new world! Ripping the paper open, I stopped and my jaw dropped … in disappointment. In place of the machine that would promise to occupy my every waking free moment was … a package from my grandmother. It held handmade fudge, some ornaments, some sort of clothing that would never adorn my body and a few two-dollar bills. My eyes raced around the tree and scanned each individual package. Not a chance. No dice. No Genesis.
Mike Zunino is the package beneath the wrapping that was not a Sega Genesis.
The amazing brain trust that was the Seattle Mariners’ front office drafted Mike Zunino in the 2012 draft with the third overall pick. It was a safe move, it was right move. Zunino was a high-ceiling high-floor polished catcher coming out of the University of Florida, where he had led the Gators to three consecutive College World Series appearances. He immediately took to minor league pitching slashing .373/.474/.736 and .333/.386/.588 for A and AA respectfully, while clobbering 13 home runs in 190 plate appearances. The most telling stat from his early success though was his walk to strikeout ration. During that time, he took 23 base-on-balls and struck-out just 33 times. This is was a ratio was a white rabbit that disappeared in a hole in the ground, never to be seen again.
He made his MLB debut on June 12, 2013. Two days later, he would launch the first home run of his career. It wouldn’t be his last as he displayed light-tower power, smacking 38 long ones so far in his young career. He also proved to be a very gifted defensive catcher and pitch framer, anchoring some very successful pitching staffs. Alas, standing at the plate has proven to be the Maninal’s downfall thus far (ZOO-NEENO, get it?). In his big league career, Zunino has whiffed 339 times and only forced his way on base via the 54 times, damning numbers for any big leaguer. Fast forward to the second half of last season and the last gasp of Jack Zduriencik’s regime sent Mikey Z down to AAA to refine his plate approach hoping to solve his woes at the plate and salvage a once promising career. In this writer’s opinion, that was one of the smartest moves they had made up to that point. He hit very well in his stint in the minors in 2015, though the K to walk ration remained a problem.
Entering 2016, the Mariners, under new management, brought in Chris Iannetta and Steve Clevenger to handle the catching duties, while Zunino’s goal was to focus on his plate discipline and refine his approach at the plate at highest level in the minor leagues. Aaaaaaaand he has responded with the ferocity of a player that has had his fill of the minor league buffet table after experiencing the life of having a personal chef in a major league clubhouse (also he probably wants to, you know, be good at his job). Mr. Zunino is off to a dazzling start in Tacoma and his line sings his praises. Through May 12, 2016, he is putting up a .321/.371/.651 with nine moon shots. We’ve seen him perform well at this level before but he is taking a step in the right direction as he has walked seven times to just 21 k’s which, while on the surface doesn’t seem great, but is movement in the direction of positive.
Chris Iannetta is currently holding down the catching duties for a first place Seattle Mariners ballclub that has its blue and gold-tinted sights set on a postseason berth, and with the team’s success, it is likely that GM Jerry Dips will let Zunino continue to develop his game for the Rainiers and hint at his arrival later in the season if he keeps putting leaves into big piles by … ahem … raking.
With the M’s sitting in first place in Mid-May, everybody might be wondering if Christmas has come early to the Pacific Northwest and maybe it has, and maybe there is a shiny new Mike Zunino under the tree for us all to adore.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
