By Anthony
In case you didn’t know the 2012 MLB Draft is kind of taking place right now, I am not sure when Patrick is going to post this. The Mariners had the third overall pick because we were the third worst team in the league last yea, but we don’t need to talk about that. Mock drafts said the Mariners were going to take either a high school shortstop from Puerto Rico, a high school outfielder from Georgia or a catcher from the University of Florida. Before the draft, I wanted the college catcher. Just because of his age, he would be more mature and be in the MLB quicker than a kid who is 17. Guess who the Mariners picked? And remember, this is the team that surprised the world last year when they took Danny Hultzen. So in a world shocking move the M’s took…the college catcher. Huzzah!
Welcome to the Seattle Mariners Mike Zunino.
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| Mike is happy to be a Mariner |
Besides the fact Zunino is a catcher from the University of Florida, he is also a fairly good hitter. And by fairly good, I mean he was said to be one of the top 5 bats in the draft. Add that to him being a very good backstop, his fielding percentage at Florida was .993, and this pick is looking excellent. He also threw out about one third of base runners. That’s not too shabby.
On to the Patrick “statistics”. He is said to be a great leader and able to manage a pitching staff. Based on the photo above, he clearly is excited to be a Mariner and he really has nowhere else to go so he seems pretty signable. Huzzah! Side note, apparently Jesus Montero was being teased for the M’s drafting a catcher. Felix claimed he was going back to Pulaski, the M’s rookie ball affiliate. I don’t really care that Montero may not be a catcher in the future. The team can always carry 2 catchers (Or 3), and Montero can always back up Zunino while also starting at DH.
Offensively, Zunino is pretty awesome. He hit .316 this year in the SEC. I know very little about college baseball and the relative strengths of each league but he will be playing in the College World Series so you can watch him there. Going into depth, Zunino has a slugging percentage of .667 and an OBP of .388. That’s pretty solid. From everything I have seen, Zunino was a “solid” pick. He isn’t outstanding at anything but he is average or above at everything. This is such an awesome pick in my opinion. Hitting catchers are incredibly rare these days and if Zunino can hit like Jason Varitek back in the day, that is a huge win for the Mariners. He could be an excellent piece in the future lineup.
Of course, he has to sign first and probably won’t for awhile. That is just how these things work, Hultzen signed like an hour before the deadline last year. Hopefully he goes to the Arizona Fall League and gets some work in before Spring Training. Mariners fans, he may not be in Seattle for a couple years, but I am excited. And don’t even bring up the Jeff Clement case. I am knocking on wood now but I don’t want that name ever mentioned near Zunino’s.
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